Around 6% of the USA is vegan, according to data from Plant Proteins. That means 6% of the US avoids consuming foods that are derived from animals, such as meat, dairy, and eggs, as well as avoiding products made from leather or other animal-derived materials. This is compared to 1% in 2014, which is an increase of 500% in the last eight years. And the popularity of veganism in the US is continuing to grow, with many famous faces advocating for this way of living.
Veganuary, a campaign encouraging people to go vegan for January, has recently gained huge momentum. With stars such as Venus Williams and celebrity chef Matthew Kenny joining Veganuary’s already impressive list of celebrity supporters, 2022 is set to be the campaign’s biggest year yet.
If you’ve recently considered following a plant-based diet, you’re not alone — depending on where you live that is. It seems that some states are much more interested in a vegan lifestyle than others. But which states are the most committed?
Denby has done the research and discovered just how vegan each state really is. Based on the popularity of vegan-related Google searches (as a fraction of total searches) in each location, the map below shows how each state ranks. So how does yours stack up?
The top 5
While we certainly expected states like Oregon and California to come out highest, what we didn’t expect was that Nevada would beat them to the top spot. Search interest for vegan terms was particularly high in this state, putting it well ahead of the rest of the country. It’s no surprise then, that Las Vegas is hosting a Vegan Dining Month this January, where participating restaurants are offering specialty plant-based dishes for the whole month.
Interest in veganism is highest along the west coast as a whole, with neighboring states California, Oregon, and Nevada all scoring well. Also in the top five are District of Columbia and Georgia, both of which showed strong search interest for vegan-related terms.
The bottom 5
Veganism is at its lowest in the Plains, with North Dakota showing the least amount of interest in veganism, followed by Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, and West Virginia. The trend for neighboring states was also evident in the bottom five, with four out of the five states bordering each other.
What’s the correlation?
Before analyzing our data, we expected the largest states, or those containing major cities, would show the biggest interest in veganism. After all, large cities like LA are bound to have a spot at the top. However, if this was the case, we’d also see states like New York up there. And with mid-sized states like Oregon, Georgia, and Nevada all appearing top, it looks like population and city size don’t affect interest in a plant-based diet.
We considered that perhaps the states with the highest number of vegan restaurants are more likely to be vegan. However, when we looked at the data (based on the latest population estimates and restaurant numbers from Happy Cow), both Nevada (which came top) and Wyoming (which appeared in the bottom five) have around 17 vegan restaurants per 100,000 people. This shows that access to plant-based options doesn’t necessarily encourage interest in a vegan diet as a whole.
However, we did find one interesting correlation: there seems to be a link between climate and interest in veganism. In our top five states, January temperatures average around 36°F –58°F, while the bottom states average at around 9°F–28°F. Perhaps nothing beats a meaty comfort dish when it’s really cold!
Methodology:
This data is taken from Google Trends. We compiled a shortlist of 15 phrases based on the most popular Google search terms in the US related to veganism, then entered each one into Google Trends and broke down the results by state to gauge regional search interest over a one-year period. Each state was scored out of 100 for each term, with 100 indicating the state where that term was most popular as a fraction of total searches, and 0 being the least. We then created a table and added up the total value for each state to generate an overall ranking. All data is correct as of 01/06/2022.
The full dataset can be viewed here.
About Denby
Established in England in 1809, Denby is a leading homeware brand that specializes in ceramics, kitchen décor, and glassware. From handmade pottery to cast iron kitchenware, Denby pride themselves on their high-quality products that are stylish enough for your best occasions, but versatile enough to use every day.
For more information, please visit https://www.denbypottery.com/us
