Study: Which U.S. states are the most competitive when it comes to trivia?

These states are the most competitive when it comes to trivia  

• Massachusetts is home to the most competitive trivia players in America
• Minnesota ranks as the second most competitive state, followed by Vermont
• People on the East Coast are more competitive about trivia than on the West Coast

The Study

The research, carried out by workplace trivia experts at Water Cooler Trivia examined Google Trends data to analyze the past 12 months of Google searches across America for search terms often associated with trivia games and quizzes. These eight terms were then combined to give each state a total score to discover the states with the most competitive trivia fans.  

The searches used for the study were:

1. Trivia games
2. Sporcle
3. Kahoot
4. Wikipedia
5. Trivia
6. Logic
7. Quiz
8. Jeopardy

The Results

The study revealed that Massachusetts ranks as the most competitive state in America. With a total score of 631, it topped the list by 28 points. Massachusetts scores the highest for the term ‘sporcle’ in the country with a score of 100.

Minnesota ranks as the second most competitive state in the country. Minnesota has the highest proportion of its population searching for the term ‘trivia’ and the second-highest proportion searching for ‘logic,’ giving the state a total score of 603.

Vermont ranks as the third most competitive state in the country, with a total score of 593. The study revealed that Vermont has the highest level of searches for ‘jeopardy’ and the second highest for the term ‘logic’ in the country.

The study found that Rhode Island ranks as the fourth most competitive state. Rhode Island has the second highest level of searches for the word ‘jeopardy’ and the second-highest level of searches for the terms ‘trivia’ and ‘trivia games,’ giving the state a total score of 581.  

The study placed Pennsylvania next in the ranking, as the fifth most trivia-obsessed state, with a total score of 578. The top ten is rounded out by Virginia ranking in sixth place, Wisconsin in seventh, followed by Ohio, New Hampshire, and Washington in eighth, ninth and tenth place, respectively.

Here are the top ten states and their respective total scores:

And here is a look at all 50 states and how they performed across all of the various evaluation metrics:

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