Tuesday, July 16, 2013

The Biggest Stereotypes Of 50 US Cities

venice beach los angeles california yoga
It's always sunny in Los Angeles.
NATE SHIVAR/ Business Insider- I always find it really fascinating to find out how people from different places can perceive the same things so differently.
And especially how people from other countries, regions, and cities perceive my city, region, and country – what they focus on, and what things stand out in their mind. In other words – people’s country, region, and city stereotypes.
For years – it has always been an interesting conversation to have – but finding out stereotypes has always been anecdotal. But last year – Renee DiResta had the brilliant idea to apply something that we all use everyday – Google AutoSuggest – to find out US State Stereotypes (you can see that post here).
Here’s the same methodology used on the top 50 US cities (by metro area population) to get the top 4 to 5 city stereotypes of each.
Just FYI – Google Auto Suggest works by using the most common and trending searches to auto-suggest the rest of your search. So when you go to Google and start typing in a search, Google uses other previously searched for terms to try to guess what you are looking for.
So, for this experiment, the search “why is CITYNAME so” will auto suggest the terms that people most commonly (or most recently) are using to complete that search. That search is like a window into what people are actually thinking and trying to find out about your city. Here they are in descending order of population (#50 to NYC).
Just to be clear – the images are from Google. They are not my perceptions. They are made up of what people actually search for.

50. Salt Lake City

50saltlakecity

Yes – I confirmed that Salt Lake City is the most smog-choked cities in the US. And yes, they do have absurdly wide streets.

49. Buffalo

49buffalo
Alas, I didn’t have any other pre-conceptions about Buffalo. This is going to be a theme among all the rust belt cities.

48. Birmingham

48birmingham
Apparently Birmingham is important (ie, people who slept through the Civil Rights part of history class?) – and I can totally confirm that it is quite ugly. There are definitely beautiful parts – but I-20 and I-59 really mess things up.

47. Raleigh

47raleigh
Yes – Raleigh is growing that fast. Not sure about the boring part.

46. Hartford

46hartford
I had no idea about this one.

45. New Orleans

45neworleans
Yes, New Orleans is all of those – but is coming back from what I hear.

44. Richmond

44richmond
Expensive?

43. Louisville

43louisville
That fits from what my sources say – it’s a great city, but no one knows quite why.

42. Oklahoma City

42oklahomacity
Oklahoma City is riding on the coattails of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Kevin Durant here.

41. Memphis

41memphis
This seems to be a theme among America’s third-tier cities.

40. Jacksonville

40jacksonville
Why smoky? The Okefenokee Swamp.

39. Milwaukee

39milwaukee
Apparently the last 2 actually fit. It’s cold – it’s nearly in Canada, and it is highly segregated.

38. Providence

Sorry Providence, not enough people cared enough to Google anything about you.

37. Virginia Beach

I had no idea Virginia Beach was the #37 metro area in America. Seriously. I would say they need to work on their branding, but it’s the headquarters of America’s Navy, so I don’t think they want the publicity.

36. Nashville

36nashville
Looks like the same theme as Louisville – but hotter.

35. Austin

35austin
Ok, I think Austin wants to fit in with its stereotypes.

34. San Jose

34sanjose
Spot on from what I hear.

33. Indianapolis

33indianapolis
Apparently the one thing people think of when they think of Indianpolis is the fabulous SoBro Cafe.

32. Columbus

32columbus
Poor Columbus, OH – they could go for some brand disambiguation.

31. Las Vegas

31lasvegas
Like Austin – I think Las Vegas embraces their stereotypes.

30. Kansas City

30kansascity
The last suggestion says it all about Kansas City.

29. Cleveland

29cleveland
Cloudy? Hmm – maybe Cleveland is still trying to shake this image.

28. Cincinnati

28cincinnati
Conservative and racist?

27. Sacramento

27sacramento
Hot?

26. Orlando

26orlando
Orlando-ites: this is spot on FWIW.

25. San Antonio

25sanantonio
Windy?

24. Portland

24portland
Ok, I think Portland has some sort of brand management going on here. They want to fit their stereotypes (err, maybe not the white part – but the others definitely).

23. Charlotte

23charlotte
Charlotte: so boring that book characters overtake them in Google AutoSuggest.

22. Pittsburgh

22pittsburgh
Bravo Pittsburgh! You have overcome the Cleveland/Buffalo/Middle America perception.

21. Denver

21denver
Denver is sending mixed signals here.

20. Baltimore

20baltimore
The Wire was set in Baltimore. I’m not sure that helped things.

19. St. Louis

19stlouis
St. Louis: you and Memphis need to get together and hash out a plan here.

18. Tampa Bay

18tampa
Total surprise – my stereotype was one of retirement homes.

17. San Diego

17sandiego
I’d loved to be proved wrong by San Diego. It looks interesting, and is definitely California’s under the radar city.

16. Minneapolis

16minneapolis
How is it that so many people are wondering why Minneapolis would be cold?

15. Seattle

15seattle
Warm?

14. Detroit

14detroit
Hmmm. The urban conundrum that is Detroit.

13. Phoenix

13phoenix
Yes – Phoenix is extremely polluted - being out in the desert doesn’t help things.

12. Inland Empire

12sanbernardio
I didn’t even know this was that big of a metro area.

11. San Francisco

11sanfrancisco
I’ve heard that those fit for the most part.

10. Boston

10boston
Double-expensive – that’s my impression as well.

9. Atlanta

9atlanta
My city! Yes – Atlanta has a large gay community. Yes, it is a big city. I’m not sure what the sentiment of “ghetto” is – but there are some very under-developed and high-crime areas in the Southwestand West of the city (both on the way to the Airport and Downtown). And Atlanta can have a couple cold days in the Winter…but it’s pretty hot overall.

8. Miami

8miami
I’ve never really had a pre-conception of Miami – I’d be interested to hear from someone who lives there.

7. Washington DC

7washingtondc
Very revealing. Expensive and poor. There’s a dissertation for you.

6. Philadelphia

6philadelphia
From my sources – Philadelphia really is a love it or hate it kind of city.

5. Houston

5houston
Houstonians: These are very true.

4. Dallas

4dallas
Windy? Otherwise, dead-on.

3. Chicago

3Chicago
Yep, dead on.

2. Los Angeles

2LosAngeles
I think LA has more appeal than these – but I totally see where they come from.

1. New York City

1newyorkcity
I’d say New Yorkers would agree (and would have fun comparing these to LA’s).
That’s all for America, but you can do this with anything – cities, people, things, companies, etc. Here’s a few more international cities I looked at.

Toronto

57toronto
I always think of Toronto as the Dallas of Canada for some reason.

Sao Paulo

56saopaulo
Spot on from what I hear.

Shanghai

55shanghai
Cold? Yeah – I think of Shanghai as hot, but if I looked at the actual weather, it would throw me off.

Hong Kong

55hongkong
Spot on in my opinion.

Paris

54paris
Spot on from what I hear.

London

52london
Spot on from what I hear.

Tokyo

51tokyo
And I think Tokyo wins the city stereotype contest.

No comments:

Post a Comment