
What Cost Is Each State Obsessed With - bennettfeely
http://www.fixr.com/blog/2015/02/27/cost-obsessions-us-map/
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nxc18
I would look at Google trends rather than autocomplete. Their autocomplete
tries to be smart and doesn't reflect actual search traffic.

See: Why won't my parakeet eat my diarrhea.

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glitch13
Looks like it only returns words that begin with consonants because of the
"a". If you search for

"how much does an * cost in"

You get different results that begin with vowels as well as
acronyms/abbreviations.

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dimino
This study has ruined is ability to be reproduced, as whenever you attempt any
of the searches, you get the study and many articles about the study, in the
results, which reinforces the findings of the study.

It's a self-reinforcing study! The more you test it, the stronger its validity
becomes!

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sgnelson
As others have already stated, there are some problems with this "study." I'm
too lazy to do this myself, but my guess is that when you actually redo this
auto-complete search, and look at not just the top search, but rather the top
5 searches, you will find a lot of overlap in many of the state searches,
which will probably show less state variation (with some exceptions of course,
and possibly more regional homogeneity, which would be interesting.)

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mywittyname
I love NY and Vermont.

Pound of Weed ----> Cord of Wood

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camiller
I posted this as a comment on the article, but I'll share here as well...

This is kind of funny, but the methodology is suspect. For example, Lincoln
Nebraska is a college dominated city so the result is no surprise, Omaha
Nebraska has a much larger population and not really skewed so much toward a
single demographic. When I run your search for Omaha the top result was
drivers license. However we all know that your personal search history can
affect results and I had been researching voter ID laws. When I try the search
in a new incognito window... I get no results whatsoever! So, unfortunately,
I'm going to have to firmly place this in the humor category.

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Tobani
I think the methodology here is off. It may not be that People in Florida and
Alabama are looking for abortion prices. It could be people in Georgia price
shopping neighboring states, then looking for taxis to get across the border.

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andrenotgiant
Right - best example of that is "How much does a fishing license cost in
Montana". People outside Montana are probably going to drown out people inside
Montana.

There aren't that many people in Montana

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stonogo
This is a horrible metric; tons of these are clearly people googling about
things somewhere other than where they live (c.f. Alaska, "gallon of milk").

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mikestew
Other comments allude to it, but this one should be at the top as it gives a
good example as to why the methodology is suspect: pretty sure people in AK
know what a gallon of milk costs in Delta Junction. I, a WA resident, would
have to look it up.

There are other, similar examples of course. Price of weed in CO? Yeah, maybe
residents are looking, but I'm more inclined to think the girl in Detroit is
wondering, "I'm paying $250/quarter for pot, I wonder how much it costs in
states where it's legal?" If I want to know how much weed costs in WA (where
it is also legal), I pull up the website of my local store, not ask Google.

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MBlume
This doesn't show California as obsessed with the price of housing, so I have
to assume the methodology is flawed in some way.

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cowardlydragon
"Succession" in Louisiana

I don't care if the methodology is suspect, I WANT TO BELIEVE...

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nickthemagicman
It either means inheriting an estate (LA has a very unique legal system) or it
means "LA IS LEAVING THE US!!"

And the United states gross income per capita and IQ went up by 100%.

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goda90
Funny when you've contributed to your state's thing at least twice. I wonder
whether it's the humid heat, or the need to chill lots of beer and cheese that
makes Wisconsin obsessed with electricity.

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philipalexander
Kentucky and Florida should make some sort of deal.

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cosrnos
I'm not at all surprised to see what my hometown of Bismarck, ND is obsessed
with.

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duaneb
Does "a minor" have a different meaning, or is there a thriving underage
slavery ring there?

I suppose it could also be "a minor ticket" or "A Minor" (the scale).

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labster
It costs a lot to import those Aeolian modes all the way from Greece to North
Dakota.

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dsjoerg
Add 2015 to the title please.

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mikeatlas
Vermont is so quaint.

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andrewclunn
"The T" ??? What's Massachusetts going on about?

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koenigdavidmj
Boston subway system.

