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It’s no secret that nerd culture has been mainstream for decades (how else do you explain the fact that nongeeks now know who Ant-Man and Grand Admiral Thrawn are?). But a building company based in Michigan and Missouri has taken it to the extreme, conducting a nationwide study to rank the top 20 nerdiest states at the nation.
At the top of list is Nebraska, followed by New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Kansas. But Oregon made it into the top 10, coming in between Connecticut and Oklahoma. Interestingly, both California (37th) and Florida (48th) were excluded from the top 20, despite being home to geek-friendly destinations like Disney’s and Universal’s respective theme parks.
To conduct the study, Lombardo Homes surveyed more than 1,000 people about their home décor. Additionally, more than 3,100 Google search terms and phrases were factored into the ranking, including “Hobbit wreath” and “Iron Man gaming chair.”
According to the survey, the most popular collectible items in Oregon are Star Wars Pendleton blankets. If nothing else, it’s a hipper and more sensible choice than Minecraft stuffed animals and bounce houses, which are all the rage in, respectively, Louisiana and Michigan (for some reason).
The results arrive at one of the most geek-friendly times of the year for Oregon: Rose City Comic Con returns in just over a week, and later this month, the Oregon Symphony will make one of its many plays for the sci-fi crowd: live scoring Return of the Jedi.