With a whopping 388 million followers, Cristiano Ronaldo is the most followed person on Instagram worldwide. But when you take out the pro athletes and the Kardashians of the world, who reigns supreme? In order to get the answer, we surveyed average Americans to find out how many Instagram followers they have and then analyzed by location in order to determine the states with the most and least Instagram followers.
Methodology
In February 2022, we surveyed 2,872 participants with Instagram accounts to collect the number of Instagram followers they have. We omitted any ‘influencers’, or people with more than 5,000 followers, as we wanted to capture the average person on social media. We also collected data on hours spent on the app, habits surrounding app use, app preferences, and societal pressures.
U.S. States with the Most and Least Instagram Followers
If you thought the average person in New York or California would have the most Instagram followers, think again. That title actually belongs to the Northeastern state of Pennsylvania, with an average 745 followers per person. The only other state to boast an average of more than 700 is Arizona with roughly 733 followers.
While not leading the nation, New York is at the top of the crowd ranking #3 with an average of 622 followers. Despite being home to Hollywood and the west coast influencer breeding ground, California ranks #32 with 379 followers per person.
The title of the state with the smallest online presence belongs to the Wolverine State, Michigan, with just shy of 300 followers on average (290). The Lone Star state is not far above with just 3 more followers than Michigan at 293. Other states at the bottom of the spectrum include New Mexico, New Hampshire, Washington, and Oregon.
Hover over the interactive map above to see where your state ranks!
Social Media Usage by Generation
As more and more social media apps come out, they seem to cater to certain generations based on the time they came out and how tech-heavy it is. TikTok, for example, is a video-creation app that was pioneered by Gen Zers, likely due to the fact that it is very techy for the generation that didn’t know a life without technology. They adapted to the platform almost instantly, using it as a creative outlet. Instagram is the app of choice for millennials. Facebook, which has been around since 2004, was arguably the first big social media channel that made it easy to stay connected with friends and family online. With its easy-to-use platform, it’s most popular with baby boomers and the Gen X generation.
Battle of the Generations
Instagram is a popular platform for the Gen Z and millennial generations, and there are both similarities and differences in their experiences. When it comes to societal pressure around having the “perfect image” on social media, around four-fifths of both Gen Zers and millennials feel pressure to look a certain way on Instagram, and over 4 in 10 say Instagram has a negative effect on their overall mental health. Just over half of Gen Zers say that having more followers makes them feel better about themselves, compared to 41% of millennials.
Instagram Habits
Societal pressures surrounding social media don’t stop at just the pressure to look a certain way, but the amount of followers one has seems to matter too. 37% of Americans want Instagram to give them the option to hide their follower and following count from their profile. The average number of Instagram followers in the U.S. is 828, and while the total number of our survey respondents’ Instagram followers isn’t anywhere near Cristiano Ronaldo’s 388 million followers, there are a few celebrities they would collectively pass. Coming in at a total of 1.6 million followers, our survey respondents collectively have more followers than George W. Bush (1.5M), Lionel Richie (1.3M), and Wells Adams (1.2M).
Closing Thoughts
No matter if you have 100 or 1,000 Instagram followers, don’t let that hinder you from sharing more moments that make you happy. Whether that be a picture of your dog every other day, your most recent travels, or even announcing your engagement, here at Shane Co. we want you to be prepared for any Instagram-worthy moment. Check out our selection of engagement rings and other jewelry for that perfect moment!
