Do you think your state has a lot of iPhone users? You might be surprised to learn that you’re right – if you live in Alaska, Montana, or Vermont.
This surprising result comes from a survey conducted by mobile advertising firm Chitika, who wanted to quantify the level of iPhone usage on a state-by-state basis.
While the data doesn’t show much correlation with geographic or raw population figures, the survey did figure out that the three states had the highest percentage of iPhone users, with 65, 60 and 59 percent respectively.
The survey also points to some interesting correlation between education level and population density, so if you live in a place with more college graduates and more people altogether, you might see a higher rate of iPhone usage over, say, Android.
Chitika Insights, the research arm of the advertising company, sampled hundreds of millions of U.S.-based iPhone ad impressions between December 25 and 31, 2014, including traffic from newly gifted iPhones for the winter holidays.
While the researchers weren’t really able to put together anything conclusively correlative with geography or raw population, they were able to see a connection between those with college degrees and the population density of a given state.
“Our analysis does point towards state-level evidence on the factors affecting iPhone usage rates,” writes the team in a white paper analysis of the data. “iPhone usage shares are positively correlated with level of education and population density at the state-level.”
There was also a correlation between iPhone use and a higher median income, but that could also be an effect of education level, as those with more education tend to make more money.
Still, it’s fun to live in the state with the highest bunch of iPhone users (Alaska). Perhaps that’s why the line was so long when I went to get an iPhone 6.
