See How New York Ranks Among Nerdy States

Can you believe it?

It's been almost 30 years since the fifth and final installment of the “Revenge of the Nerds” series was in movie theatres. “Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love” was the last one produced in 1994.

This got us thinking. What are the nerdiest states in the U.S.?

NYCasinos.com – your source for New York online casinos - used data from Comic Cons in United States (USA) | Comic Cons 2023 Dates (comic-cons.xyz), Bookstores in America, 2013: A State-by-State Guide (publishersweekly.com) and Google Trends. We constructed a weighted scoring system based on number of annual comic book/anime conventions and number of bookstores per capita (“Cool Things Score”) and Google search volume on queries like “Live Action Roleplaying,” “Comic books stores near me,” “Tabletop Games” (“Average Nerdy Search Volume”) and created a “Nerd Index” by which to rank the states.

Push your eyeglasses down and get the pen out of your shirt pocket, here is what we found:

Ranking the Nerdiest States

Top 10

State	Avg. NerdySearch Volume	Cool Things Score	Nerd Index
1. Alaska	100	43	143
2. Maryland	92.5	15	107.5
3. Kansas	55	43	98
4. Wyoming	25	50	75
5. South Carolina	30	45	75
6. West Virginia	36	37	73
7. Wisconsin	44.5	28	72.5
8. Tennessee	15	57	72
9. Montana	17	51	68
10. Georgia	20.7	47	67.5

Bottom 10

State	Avg. NerdySearch Volume	Cool Things Score	Nerd Index
41. New York	12	18	30
42. Arizona	11.5	17	28.5
43. South Dakota	0	28	28
T-44. Idaho	5	21	26
T-44. Rhode Island	22	4	26
46. Nevada	8	14	22
47. North Dakota	0	21	21
48. Delaware	9	11	20
49. New Jersey	11	7	18
50. Hawaii	0	7	7

New York? Not Nerdy

The Empire State is one of the least nerdy states in the country, coming in at No. 41 of 50 with a Nerd Index of 30. Its average Nerdy Search Volume was 12 and its Cool Things Score came in at 18.

Nearby Delaware (20 Nerd Index) and New Jersey (18 Nerd Index) came in at No. 48 and No. 49, respectively.

Alaska topped all nerd states with an index of 143. Hawaii had the lowest nerd index of just 7.

The top three nerd movies by Ranker.com (voted on by the Northeastern part of the United States), along with this writer’s skinny for each include:

Back to the Future (1985): one of the best, came out during my senior year of high school.

Weird Science (1985): underrated, was one of my staples toward the transition into college life.

Superbad (2007): never heard of, nor have ever watched.

I guess I'm a nerd.

In addition to covering online casinos in the state and stories of cultural interest such as this, NYCasinos.com provides top NY casino bonuses.

Author

Lou Monaco

@loumonaco

Lou Monaco had been East Coast Scene columnist for Gaming Today in Las Vegas since June 2019, covering the East Coast sportsbook scene with emphasis on NJ and PA. He also currently is a part-time writer for the high school sports department for NJ Advanced Media (NJ.com) in Iselin, NJ. Lou has over 30 years sports experience with previous stints at ESPN SportsTicker, Daily Racing Form and Oddschecker.