These might be the most racist places in America

The most racist places in America are in the rural Northeast and South, according to a new study based on Google search data published in PLOS ONE.

The research was led by data scientist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, who said Google data “are unlikely to suffer from major social censoring,” Washington Post reported. He said the results correlate with other standard measures used to study racist attitudes.

Other methods, such as simply asking people, have proved unsuccessful, due to implicit bias, meaning the attitudes are held on a subconscious level. Such attitudes are more likely to be expressed anonymously online, or as Stephens-Davidowitz suggests, through Google search data.

While the PLOS ONE study (which can be read here) is not scientific, but rather correlative, it offers an interesting glimpse into how data such as what’s used in the study can be used for serious research. Obviously, racism is a country-wide problem.

The research paper looked at searches containing the N-word, which the study notes is searched for frequently. Not all searches for the word are inherently racist, of course, and not all racists search for the word, Washington Post reported.

While the searches are rarer the further West you go, the hotbeds of what PLOS One called racist searches were in Ohio, Michigan and the Gulf Coast, as well as an apparent strip of land running along the Appalachians.

Areas in Nevada, California, Washington, Oregon, as well as areas of the Midwest, were all “much less than average.” An area encompassing Clark County had a higher rate, falling under “less than average.”

Contact Kristen DeSilva at 702-477-3895 or kdesilva@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @kristendesilva