There are a lot of misconceptions about capital cities in the big US of A – how many people believe that New York City is the capital of New York State? Or that LA is the most popular tourist spot? It can be quite surprising which capital cities are actually the most trending on social media in the US, so we did a little digging to find out exactly which capitals take the spot for most beloved, beating all the cities you might think would come out top!
In fact, the USA’s most trending capital city was Boston in Massachusetts – the home of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, the celebrated Boston Marathon, and of course that famous bar from Cheers!
So how did we get to this conclusion? Well, using the Keyword Tool, we were able to analyze eight factors by looking at data from Google, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. We also analyzed TikTok data, along with Linkfluence data, to examine positive and negative sentiment over the last 12 months. This got us data on:
- how many people share Instagram posts tagging that capital city
- how much positive sentiment there was about the city online
- how many web searches there were for the city in each month
- and how many total views there were for each city’s hashtag on TikTok
After all, social media is one of the biggest indicators of what’s cool right now, so we knew we’d get some good data from this method! All of this gave the cities a score out of 100 marks, so, let’s find out which cities follow behind Boston in the top (and bottom) 15 most popular cities in the USA.
The 15 most trending capital cities in the US
| City | State | Google Searches p/m | Instagram Total Posts | Positive Sentiment (%) | TikTok Views | Total out of 100 |
| 1. Boston | Massachusetts | 13,996,630 | 24,504,024 | 17.90 | 10,200,000,000 | 60.96 |
| 2. Nashville | Tennessee | 13,011,350 | 16,641,041 | 17.80 | 7,000,000,000 | 57.35 |
| 3. Phoenix | Arizona | 13,558,380 | 10,678,878 | 17.90 | 202,000,000 | 56.52 |
| 4. Austin | Texas | 11,132,210 | 13,744,332 | 19.10 | 3,800,000,000 | 55.48 |
| 5. Denver | Colorado | 12,640,630 | 14,240,964 | 10.60 | 4,700,000,000 | 51.41 |
| 6. Oklahoma City | Oklahoma | 3,738,200 | 1,357,388 | 18.60 | 269,500,000 | 44.43 |
| 7. Jackson | Mississippi | 17,135,420 | 6,492,599 | 23.10 | 4,500,000,000 | 44.20 |
| 8. Atlanta | Georgia | 13,366,240 | 542,420 | 17 | 968,900,000 | 37.87 |
| 9. Columbia | South Carolina | 6,225,970 | 3,034,394 | 13.20 | 865,600,000 | 36.97 |
| 10. Sacramento | California | 7,236,110 | 7,961,584 | 16.30 | 2,300,000,000 | 32.58 |
| 11. Charleston | West Virginia | 4,440,790 | 5,531,096 | 18.40 | 927,200,000 | 30.33 |
| 12. Indianapolis | Indiana | 5,875,280 | 3,613,139 | 16.60 | 918,300,000 | 29.85 |
| 13. Columbus | Ohio | 5,935,470 | 3,916,193 | 17 | 865,600,000 | 28.78 |
| 14. Lincoln | Nebraska | 6,271,600 | 3,226,991 | 15.50 | 4,400,000,000 | 28.41 |
| 15. Salt Lake City | Utah | 3,275,190 | 2,994,085 | 16.50 | 808,800,000 | 28.11 |
With so much to do in Boston, and with such a great accent as well, it’s little surprise that people really love that capital city – with over 10 billion TikTok views, and nearly 14 million Google searches every month, everyone seems to be eyeing up Boston life.
Nashville in Tennessee is another fan favorite with a total score of 57.35 out of 100, and no wonder! It’s hen-do central, with cowgirl themed parties ruling the streets, as well as the birthplace of country music. This capital city is packed full of history and fun, so no wonder it’s really buzzing online.
Phoenix in Arizona and Austin, Texas are two of the sunniest capital cities on our favorites list, and they both are home to their own cultures and unique activities, like hot air balloon rides over the desert in Phoenix.
Denver, Colorado rounds out the top five with its beautiful scenery and, in a strong swing from the previous two cities, is well known for its ski season and most of all, for its friendly communities.
Going down the list, we can see that a lot of these capital cities are well known, but surprisingly we’re not seeing some of the most famous capital cities on there – Seattle, Washington DC, San Francisco – perhaps they’ve fallen out of the limelight in recent years? Some capital cities that have definitely not even hit the limelight fell into our bottom 15, however.
The 15 least trending capital cities in the US
| City | State | Google Searches p/m | Instagram Total Posts | Positive Sentiment (%) | TikTok Views | Total out of 100 |
| 1. Dover | Delaware | 953,720 | 660,583 | 11.90 | 132,000,000 | 4.59 |
| 2. Topeka | Kansas | 773,560 | 178,525 | 10.30 | 45,200,000 | 5.91 |
| 3. Little Rock | Arkansas | 1,722,380 | 183,906 | 12.50 | 45,300,000 | 6.11 |
| 4. Pierre | South Dakota | 1,070,160 | 858,713 | 11.70 | 397,000,000 | 6.93 |
| 5. Jefferson City | Missouri | 444,970 | 53,039 | 9.71 | 6,200,000 | 7.89 |
| 6. Tallahassee | Florida | 1,728,220 | 1,421,762 | 10.70 | 239,000,000 | 8.43 |
| 7. Bismarck | North Dakota | 914,340 | 194,380 | 13.90 | 241,000,000 | 9.98 |
| 8. Lansing | Michigan | 1,123,020 | 436,625 | 14.90 | 85,200,000 | 10.89 |
| 9. Frankfort | Kentucky | 655,860 | 1,689,40 | 13.80 | 38,300,000 | 11.43 |
| 10. Harrisburg | Pennsylvania | 1,077,610 | 486,239 | 14.10 | 33,600,000 | 11.59 |
| 11. Carson City | Nevada | 599,760 | 210,295 | 12.60 | 13,600,000 | 12.05 |
| 12. Montpelier | Vermont | 318,420 | 88,544 | 13.90 | 1,500,000,000 | 12.28 |
| 13. Trenton | New Jersey | 746,570 | 316,642 | 14.30 | 38,100,000 | 13.84 |
| 14. Juneau | Alaska | 750,970 | 405,074 | 13.30 | 106,000,000 | 13.91 |
| 15. Baton Rouge | Louisiana | 1,942,310 | 2,191,104 | 16 | 633,000,000 | 14.14 |
At the very bottom of our list, we have several capital cities that might have taken you by surprise – after all, how many of us genuinely believed that Miami was the capital of Florida? And I’m sure there are not many people out there who could tell you the capital city of Alaska without looking it up first!
Dover came out at the very bottom of our list – with a lowly score of 4.59, this capital city is actually the second most populated city in the state of Delaware, and plays host to Dover Air Force Base, and Dover Motor Speedway, a NASCAR course. Despite playing host to these cool spaces, it remains firmly out of the spotlight on social media.
If you’re ever looking to create a list of off-the-beaten track places to visit, why not check out our least favored list to find places that are unlikely to be flooded with tourists taking selfies? And if you want to become the next big TikTok star, your career could take off if you find yourself sharing some content from the wildly loved cities of Boston, Nashville, or Denver! Wherever you decide to jet off too, you’ll need to book your airport parking – we have parking at airports throughout the country, including Atlanta, Chicago, and San Francisco.
And, if you’ve got an early flight out or a late one back, we’ve got you covered too – just book one of our hotel and parking packages to save some extra cash, which you can put towards your spending money.
Main image: Lance Anderson – Unsplash
