Dog Vs Cat Map Of The United States

Map showing the relative popularity of dogs vs cats by state

It’s official (well at least if Google can be trusted) the US prefers dogs over cats. We arrived at this conclusion simply by comparing monthly Google searches for the term ‘dog’ compared to ‘cat.’

However, the map above does not tell the whole story.

According to Google’s keyword planner data for September 2015, there were 586,720 searches for ‘dog’ vs just 511,980 for ‘cat.’ While these numbers may not be entirely accurate, they strongly imply that the US is a dog country.

The 10 states with the biggest bias for dogs over cats were (full data at the end of this post):

1. Arkansas
2. Alabama
3. Louisiana
4. Mississippi
5. Nevada
6. Oklahoma
7. Delaware
8. Montana
9. Maine
10. Hawaii

The 3 states with a relatively greater interest in cats over dogs were:

1. South Dakota
2. New Hampshire
3. Vermont

However, the data only looks at relative interest only! And not absolute interest. So a state could search a lot for both dogs and cats, yet still show a bias towards dogs.

Therefore to provide a fairer picture, here are the number of searches per capita per month (note numbers are per 1,000 people to make the comparison a bit easier).

Map showing the per capita interest in dogs by state

On a per capita basis, state rankings look a little different. The top 10 are:

1. Washington DC
2. Nevada
3. Texas
4. Georgia
5. Massachusetts
6. Washington
7. Illinois
8. Florida
9. Oregon
10. California

Similarly, we also looked at the per capita popularity of cats by state:

Map showing the per capita interest in cats by state

The top 10 states with greatest per capita search volume for cats are:

1. Washington DC
2. Oregon
3. California
4. Colorado
5. Texas
6. Arizona
7. Minnesota
8. Georgia
9. Massachusetts
10. New Hampshire

It turns out that 6 of the top 10 states searching for ‘cat’ were also in the top 10 searching for ‘dog.’ So perhaps the difference is less about dog vs cat and more between those who like having pets and those that don’t.

What do you think? You can leave your comments at the end of this article.

Looking for more in the dog vs cat debate? Then have a look at the following:

• Dog vs. Cat
• National Geographic Readers: Cats vs. Dogs
• Dog vs. Cat: A Nation Divided: Dirty Tricks and Other Shocking Secrets from a Nasty Pet Election
• Cat Dog Theology: Rethinking Our Relationship with Our Master
• Cats vs. Dogs (A Coloring Book)
• CafePress Schrodinger’s Cat Vs. Pavlov’s Dog T-Shirt

Full Data:

States most interested in dogs relative to cats:

1. Arkansas – 1.52X more searches for dog vs cat
2. Alabama – 1.50X
3. Louisiana – 1.50X
4. Mississippi – 1.50X
5. Nevada – 1.50X
6. Oklahoma – 1.50X
7. Delaware – 1.30X
8. Montana – 1.30X
9. Hawaii – 1.26X
10. Maine – 1.26X
11. Kansas – 1.23X
12. South Carolina – 1.23X
13. Utah – 1.23X
14. Georgia – 1.23X
15. Pennsylvania – 1.23X
16. Florida – 1.22X
17. Massachusetts – 1.22X
18. Virginia – 1.22X
19. Washington – 1.22X
20. Michigan – 1.22X
21. North Carolina – 1.22X
22. Indiana – 1.22X
23. Iowa – 1.22X
24. Kentucky – 1.22X
25. Maryland – 1.22X
26. Missouri – 1.22X
27. Tennessee – 1.22X
28. Texas – 1.22X
29. Wisconsin – 1.22X
30. Illinois – 1.22X
31. New Mexico – 1.21X
32. West Virginia – 1.21X
33. Alaska – even
34. Arizona
35. California
36. Colorado
37. Connecticut
38. Idaho
39. Minnesota
40. Nebraska
41. New Jersey
42. New York
43. North Dakota
44. Ohio
45. Oregon
46. Rhode Island
47. Washington DC
48. Wyoming – even
49. Vermont – 1.22X more searches for ‘cat’ vs ‘dog’
50. New Hampshire – 1.26X
51. South Dakota – 1.30X

Searches for ‘dog’ per 1,000 people:

1. Washington DC – 6.68
2. Nevada – 2.39
3. Texas – 2.32
4. Georgia – 2.24
5. Massachusetts – 2.23
6. Washington – 2.15
7. Illinois – 2.10
8. Florida – 2.10
9. Oregon – 2.08
10. California – 1.95
11. Colorado – 1.91
12. Utah – 1.89
13. Kansas – 1.87
14. North Carolina – 1.86
15. Indiana – 1.85
16. Arizona – 1.85
17. Minnesota – 1.84
18. Michigan – 1.83
19. Virginia – 1.81
20. Maine – 1.81
21. Pennsylvania – 1.74
22. Oklahoma – 1.73
23. Wisconsin – 1.73
24. Hawaii – 1.72
25. South Carolina – 1.71
26. New York – 1.69
27. Maryland – 1.68
28. Alabama – 1.68
29. New Jersey – 1.67
30. Missouri – 1.64
31. Ohio – 1.57
32. West Virginia – 1.56
33. Nebraska – 1.56
34. Tennessee – 1.53
35. Rhode Island – 1.52
36. Kentucky – 1.51
37. Connecticut – 1.50
38. Idaho – 1.50
39. Arkansas – 1.49
40. New Hampshire – 1.44
41. Louisiana – 1.43
42. Iowa – 1.43
43. Delaware – 1.42
44. New Mexico – 1.39
45. Alaska – 1.37
46. Montana – 1.29
47. North Dakota – 1.26
48. Wyoming – 1.25
49. Mississippi – 1.21
50. South Dakota – 1.20
51. Vermont – 1.15

Searches for ‘cat’ per 1,000 people:

1. Washington DC – 6.68
2. Oregon – 2.08
3. California – 1.95
4. Colorado – 1.91
5. Texas – 1.90
6. Arizona – 1.85
7. Minnesota – 1.84
8. Georgia – 1.82
9. Massachusetts – 1.82
10. New Hampshire – 1.82
11. Washington – 1.75
12. Illinois – 1.72
13. Florida – 1.71
14. New York – 1.69
15. New Jersey – 1.67
16. Nevada – 1.59
17. Ohio – 1.57
18. Nebraska – 1.56
19. South Dakota – 1.56
20. Utah – 1.54
21. Kansas – 1.52
22. Rhode Island – 1.52
23. North Carolina – 1.52
24. Indiana – 1.51
25. Connecticut – 1.50
26. Idaho – 1.50
27. Michigan – 1.50
28. Virginia – 1.48
29. Maine – 1.43
30. Pennsylvania – 1.42
31. Wisconsin – 1.41
32. Vermont – 1.41
33. South Carolina – 1.40
34. Maryland – 1.38
35. Alaska – 1.37
36. Hawaii – 1.36
37. Missouri – 1.35
38. West Virginia – 1.29
39. North Dakota – 1.26
40. Tennessee – 1.25
41. Wyoming – 1.25
42. Kentucky – 1.23
43. Iowa – 1.17
44. Oklahoma – 1.15
45. New Mexico – 1.15
46. Alabama – 1.12
47. Delaware – 1.09
48. Montana – 0.99
49. Arkansas – 0.98
50. Louisiana – 0.96
51. Mississippi – 0.80

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