Google Study Reveals Most Racist Places in America Based on Searches for N-Word

by Kathy Grear 03/14/2016

Search engine giant Google has just released a new report that reportedly shows what parts of the United States have the most racist people. The study measured the incidence of racist attitudes according to the way people search the web.

In the study conducted by the Public Library Of Science (PLOS), they investigated the utility of a previously developed Internet search-based proxy of area racism as a predictor of Black mortality rates. Area racism was the proportion of Google searches containing the “N-word” in 196 designated market areas (DMAs). But its important to note that not all people searching for the N-word are motivated by racism, and that not all racists search for that word, either.

But aggregated over several years and several million searches, the data gives a pretty good approximation of where a particular type of racist attitude is the strongest.

According to the study, the worst places for racism are:

Various counties in Texas

Various counties in
Alabama

Various counties in
Mississippi

Varous counties in West Virginia

Various counties in Northern Wisconsin

Various counties in South Carolina

Various counties in North Carolina

Various counties in Upstate New York

Various counties in
Vermont and more   
The places with the least amount of racism appear to be:

Almost the entire west coast

Almost the entire mid-west

Almost the entire northern mid-west and more.

Ironically, these same areas where racism is high, are the same areas where racial disparities in health are well-documented and represent a significant public health concern. In fact, those areas have higher mortality rates of African Americans compared to other areas.

For more details about the study, visit http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0122963 •