“May the Fourth be with you” is a phrase you’ve probably heard on some May 4ths before, as it’s a commonly quoted play on words comparing the similarities between the date May 4th and the popular saying from the Star Wars franchise, “May the force be with you.” May 4th has actually been dubbed National Star Wars Day in honor of the growing association between the date and Star Wars.
With May right around the corner, we wanted to honor the holiday early by gathering state-by-state search volume data on all things Star Wars, from characters and planets to movies and vehicles. From there, we crunched the numbers in order to determine which states are the most and least obsessed with Star Wars.
Hover over any state to see its top-searched Star Wars hero, villain, movie or TV show, location, vehicle, and species!
The Most Popular Star Wars Terms Overall
Grogu, or “Baby Yoda,” managed to garner more searches than classic Star Wars protagonists like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker and finished as the most searched-for Star Wars hero in the most states (10). On the dark side of the force, the original trilogy’s main antagonist, Emperor Palpatine, was the top-searched Star Wars villain in the most states (10), while popular characters like Darth Vader weren’t the most searched-for Star Wars villain in more than even a single state.
Even with hit shows that are currently very relevant like The Mandalorian, 2017’s The Last Jedi was the top-searched Star Wars movie or TV show overall. In fact, The Last Jedi was the most searched-for Star Wars movie or TV show in over five times as many states as Revenge of the Sith, which was the second-most searched-for piece of Star Wars media.
The Wookiee planet of Kashyyyk was the most searched-for Star Wars location, and the iconic Star Destroyer from the first film was by far the top-searched Star Wars vehicle. The same is true for the Sith Order, which was looked up over three times as often as the second-most searched-for Star Wars species, the Hutts.
The Most Popular Star Wars-obsessed States
Nobody loves Star Wars quite like the western U.S. In fact, all five of the top five most Star Wars-obsessed states are western states! Let’s go over each one, starting with the most obsessed:
Utah is the #1 most Star Wars-obsessed state, and several of its top-searched Star Wars terms are the ones you might have expected out of the majority of states (as it turns out, however, no other state in the top five turned out to be as predictable as Utah).
For example, Utah’s favorite hero was one of the most popular Jedi Masters ever (Yoda), and the state’s favorite villain is arguably the all-time face of the franchise (Darth Vader). Utah’s top-searched vehicle is the Death Star, and the state’s most searched-for movie or TV show is the current Disney smash-hit The Mandalorian (Utah’s top-searched Star Wars species is also “Mandalorians”).
The second-most Star Wars-obsessed state, Washington, was a little more creative with the Star Wars stuff they searched for. While the state’s most searched-for hero, C-3PO, is pretty well known by the general population, Washington’s top-searched villain is Mother Talzin, a character introduced in the animated Star Wars TV show Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and the vehicle it searched most is the Y-wing (come on, Washington, not even the X-wing?).
Like many other states, Oregon’s top-searched Star Wars hero is the iconic R2-D2, but like Washington, its most searched-for villain is a lesser-known character (Wat Tambor). Tambor was introduced in a Star Wars book, Cloak of Deception, in 2001, but less-dedicated Star Wars fans might recognize him from his appearances in Attack of the Clones or The Clone Wars.
Colorado is yet another state that looked up one of the two iconic Star Wars robots (in this case R2-D2, not C-3PO) more than any other Star Wars hero but searched for a lesser-known villain more than any of the more well-known Star Wars villains like Darth Vader or Emperor Palpatine. In this case, it’s the bounty hunter Bossk, a foe of Boba Fett who has made lots of appearances throughout various Star Wars books, movies, and TV shows. He was also rumored to be returning in the newest Star Wars show, The Book of Boba Fett, which coincidentally is also Colorado’s top-searched Star Wars movie or TV show!
California continues the trend of top five Star Wars-obsessed states searching for R2-D2 or C-3PO more than any other Star Wars hero and a lesser-known villain more than any of the more popular Star Wars villains (out of the entire top five, only Utah didn’t follow this trend!). This time, it’s R2-D2 and the main antagonist of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Orson Krennic. California’s most searched-for Star Wars movie or TV show was not Rogue One, however, but the Star Wars movie or TV show that was the top-searched overall (The Last Jedi).
Methodology
We broke our list of Star Wars search terms into six different categories (heroes/Jedi, villains/Sith, movies/TV shows, locations, vehicles, and alien races). We determined our search terms using popular fan-driven Star Wars information pages for each category and our own knowledge of the franchise. Here are the sources:
All in all, we used 217 search terms across those six categories. The search terms were collected in February of 2022, using search interest over the last three years for each term from February 2019 to February 2022.
Google Trends gives each state a search interest score of 0-100 for search terms. This number is based on search interest for a topic as a proportion of all searches in the state for a given time period. To determine the most Star Wars-obsessed states, we summed the total search interest of each of our 217 Star Wars search terms to find out which states search Star Wars-related topics more often than the rest. We also found the most searched term for each category in every state.
It’s worth noting that Utah’s high search interest for popular Star Wars topics is likely the reason fan favorites like Yoda and Darth Vader were not the top-searched hero and villain in more states. Utah searches those terms so much more often than other states, they effectively removed them from Google search interest data for the rest of the U.S.!
Final Thoughts
Star Wars recently announced that a book about the courtship and marriage of Han Solo and Princess Leia will be released this summer. If you think a wedding is also in your near future but you still need to buy an engagement ring, Shane Co. is sure to have the perfect option waiting for you.
