South Carolina Ranks As One Of The 5 Nerdiest States

Are we back in high school? Nerdy isn't a term I use that often in my day-to-day life. In fact, I'm just picturing Steve Urkel right now. The actual Oxford dictionary definition of nerdy is "characterized by great enthusiasm for and knowledge about a particular subject, especially one of specialist or niche interest." Nerds are often depicted in popular culture as socially awkward, without a lot of friends, extremely smart, and without much of a trendy fashion sense. You often think of nerds as being interested in things like Star Wars and cosplay. The latter is where this study comes in. Due to San Diego's Comic-Con, our friends at BetCarolina conducted research on the "nerdiest states" and shared that research with us. Side note what do people do at these cosplay conventions? You spend hours on your costume, but what do you actually do when you get there? Someone let me know!

So in order to create these rankings BetCarolina created a "Nerd Index". That sounds like a nerdy thing to do. The Nerd Index combined two scores the "NerdySearch Volume Average" and the "Cool Things Score". The NerdySearch Volume included searches for things like "live action roleplaying and comic book stores. In contrast, the Cool Things Score is based on things like the number of comic book and anime conventions in the state and bookstores per capita. So how did the top 11 end up? Both the Carolinas were represented with South Carolina ranking at the 5th nerdiest state. That probably means you're pretty smart SC!

What are your thoughts South Carolina? If you want to read more on this study you can do so here. Does your search history contribute to South Carolina ranking as the 5th nerdiest state? I'm in North Carolina but as someone who has never seen a Star Wars Movie or stepped foot in any sort of comic/anime convention, I can't say that I helped this stat at all. The closest experience I've had is being entirely confused around age 11 when the hotel I was staying at for a dance competition, was hosting a Star Wars convention. 11-year-old me was extremely confused when the elevator opened and grown adults were in full-on Star Wars costumes. It was nowhere close to Halloween.

But if it makes you happy it makes you happy! Still I'd love for someone to explain to me what you do once you show up at these types of events in costume. It's the burning question in my mind.

May the force or 4th be with you. Droves of Star Wars fans celebrate Star Wars Day on May the 4th so of course we are joining in on the fun. One of the most popular franchises in cinematic history, Star Wars first debuted in 1977 and remains to this day a cultural phenomenon. The franchise now contains 12 films, a Disney + series, oh, and an entire land at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. So if you're one of the millions of fans of the Star Wars Universe, I take it you probably have one or two favorite Star Wars Movies.

This is where I admit (and proceed to hide) that I think I've seen maybe one and a half Star Wars movies. And both of those were probably before the age of 12 so a few years ago! I'm slightly familiar with the original set of characters thanks to Star Tours at Disney. And I did experience Galaxy's Edge last month at Disney World. Though I was certainly outside of my element. But perhaps in honor of this holiday, I'll open Disney + and start a Stars Wars Film tonight. Should I go with the favorite? Or go in order?

Keep reading to see the list of North Carolina's favorite Star Wars movies. It was curated by our friends at BetCarolina who graciously sent it our way. They looked at Google Search trends specific to North Carolina to determine which Star Wars films North Carolinians just can't get enough of. You can read their study here! Is the winner your favorite? Let me know so I know which to watch first!

Percentage of Interest: 12%

Percentage of Interest: 15%

Percentage of Interest: 18%

Percentage of Interest: 27%

Percentage of Interest: 28%