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Study: The Top "Prepper" States Ranked from #1 - 50 According to Google Data
Ever wondered which states in the US have the highest percentage of survivalists and preppers, or who is best prepared for the next major emergency?
We did some research pulling and analyzing Google trends and search data from across the web to rank every US state in order of most to least prepared.
Like it or not, Google tracks and stores more data than any other company in the world - but they do make a lot of it available for free, if you know where to look.
So we thought we'd take advantage of this and comb through Google's Search and Trends data they spend billions collecting, to determine which states they think have the strongest prepper communities.
You'll find the results in the table below.
If you'd like to see the methodology we used to build these rankings, along with explanations of what each of the columns and data points mean, simply scroll to the bottom of this article.
Top US States for Emergency Preparedness Ranked, According to Google Data
Here are the rankings in order...
| Rank | State | Population | Total Search Activity Score | Population to Search Score Ratio |
| 1 | Idaho | 1,896,652 | 17,880.00 | 106 |
| 2 | Wyoming | 582,233 | 5,280.00 | 110 |
| 3 | Utah | 3,363,182 | 30,360.00 | 111 |
| 4 | Montana | 1,093,117 | 8,760.00 | 125 |
| 5 | New Hampshire | 1,378,449 | 10,800.00 | 128 |
| 6 | Oregon | 4,325,290 | 33,720.00 | 128 |
| 7 | Colorado | 5,961,083 | 44,040.00 | 135 |
| 8 | Washington | 7,887,965 | 55,920.00 | 141 |
| 9 | Maine | 1,359,677 | 9,600.00 | 142 |
| 10 | Alaska | 720,763 | 4,680.00 | 154 |
| 11 | Arizona | 7,640,796 | 49,440.00 | 155 |
| 12 | Arkansas | 3,042,017 | 19,680.00 | 155 |
| 13 | Tennessee | 7,001,803 | 44,160.00 | 159 |
| 14 | Missouri | 6,184,843 | 38,760.00 | 160 |
| 15 | Nevada | 3,238,601 | 20,160.00 | 161 |
| 16 | West Virginia | 1,755,715 | 10,920.00 | 161 |
| 17 | New Mexico | 2,109,093 | 12,720.00 | 166 |
| 18 | North Carolina | 10,807,491 | 63,840.00 | 169 |
| 19 | Virginia | 8,638,218 | 50,280.00 | 172 |
| 20 | Georgia | 10,936,299 | 63,360.00 | 173 |
| 21 | Kentucky | 4,487,233 | 25,800.00 | 174 |
| 22 | Oklahoma | 4,007,179 | 22,800.00 | 176 |
| 23 | Michigan | 9,995,212 | 56,640.00 | 176 |
| 24 | Ohio | 11,727,377 | 66,120.00 | 177 |
| 25 | Indiana | 6,842,385 | 38,280.00 | 179 |
| 26 | South Dakota | 902,542 | 5,040.00 | 179 |
| 27 | Texas | 30,097,526 | 164,400.00 | 183 |
| 28 | Nebraska | 1,960,790 | 10,680.00 | 184 |
| 29 | Kansas | 2,919,179 | 15,720.00 | 186 |
| 30 | Iowa | 3,174,426 | 17,040.00 | 186 |
| 31 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,190 | 67,920.00 | 189 |
| 32 | Florida | 22,177,997 | 116,400.00 | 191 |
| 33 | Vermont | 622,882 | 3,240.00 | 192 |
| 34 | South Carolina | 5,342,388 | 27,480.00 | 194 |
| 35 | North Dakota | 774,008 | 3,960.00 | 195 |
| 36 | Wisconsin | 5,867,518 | 29,760.00 | 197 |
| 37 | Delaware | 998,619 | 5,040.00 | 198 |
| 38 | Massachusetts | 6,922,107 | 34,680.00 | 200 |
| 39 | Illinois | 12,518,071 | 62,040.00 | 202 |
| 40 | Mississippi | 2,961,536 | 14,280.00 | 207 |
| 41 | Connecticut | 3,546,588 | 17,040.00 | 208 |
| 42 | Alabama | 4,934,193 | 23,640.00 | 209 |
| 43 | Rhode Island | 1,062,583 | 5,040.00 | 211 |
| 44 | Maryland | 6,075,314 | 28,800.00 | 211 |
| 45 | Louisiana | 4,616,106 | 21,600.00 | 214 |
| 46 | New Jersey | 8,870,685 | 38,760.00 | 229 |
| 47 | New York | 19,223,191 | 81,720.00 | 235 |
| 48 | California | 39,664,128 | 162,000.00 | 245 |
| 49 | Minnesota | 5,739,781 | 21,840.00 | 263 |
| 50 | Hawaii | 1,401,709 | 5,280.00 | 265 |
Rankings Explained - How We Calculated The Results
We used google Search and Trends data to score each state and estimate which locations had the most interest in emergency preparedness and survival, in relation to each state's population.
We wanted to ensure the final rankings were fair and took into consideration the fact some states have a much higher population than others. So we used ratios of Google search interest and total population numbers on a State level.
Here is how we compiled the data:
Firstly, we collected the Google search queries with the highest volume in the United States related to the most popular products survivalists and preppers like to buy.
We determined the most popular products using Google Trends, and bestseller lists on the leading emergency preparedness websites such as MyPatriotSupply.com
Examples of the kinds of search terms we analyzed include:
- Emergency food supply
- Survival kits
- Freeze dried food
And a handful of other similar terms.
Secondly, we used the premium version of a search analysis tool called Mangools which provides unique insights into Google search activity not available elsewhere.
Via the Google search API this tool allowed us to see how often people in each state were searching for each of our survival-related search terms referenced above.
We ran every search query through the tool for all 50 states, then added the results to together. This number appears as "Total Search Activity Score" in column 4 of our ranking table.
Thirdly, we pulled the latest confirmed population data for each state in 2022. We then compared the total search volume numbers on a state level to the number of people living in each state. This gave us the "Population to Search Score Ratio" numbers which you'll see in column 5 of the rankings table.
We sorted the results by "People Per Search" from lowest to highest. This gave us the final rankings, and a strong indication of which states are most actively interested in and searching for the top selling survival products online, while allowing for large differences in population sizes between states.