A new study that measures iPhone usage rates by state suggests that Apple’s iPhone is most popular in states like Alaska, Montana, Vermont, New York, Kansas, and Mississippi. The study, conducted by Chitika Insights on December 25 through December 31, sampled “hundreds of millions” of U.S.-based iPhone ad impressions to determine the percentage of iPhone users in each state.
Each of the above listed states, along with many states in New England, saw between 55 and 65 percent of smartphone traffic coming from iPhones. Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan saw the lowest amount of traffic coming from iPhones, at 40 to 44 percent. New Mexico was the state with the lowest iPhone usage.
According to Chitika, iPhone usage rates did not correlate to geography or raw population figures, but there was some relationship to both population density and education level. A higher median income was also associated with iPhone usage, but that could be a result of education level, as those two variables go hand in hand. In states with higher education levels and denser populations, iPhone usage tended to be higher.
In a similar study conducted in 2011, Montana was one of the few states where iPhone usage outpaced Android usage. In many states the iPhone is not dominant, but the two usage maps provide an interesting look at how iPhone adoption has grown by state over the past four years. Many states where BlackBerry dominated, for example, are now seeing high iPhone usage.
Chitika’s study is not the first to correlate iPhone usage with higher education and income levels. Several other studies have also suggested that iPhone owners are, on average, wealthier and higher educated than other smartphone owners.
