Doomsday, USA: The Best and Worst States for Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse

• For the best potential farming, you should find your way to North and South Dakota, which have the highest gross receipts of farms per capita (followed by Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas). However, the Dakotas had the worst percentages of solar power provided across the nation—so bring your own solar panels!
• North Dakota still ranks as the best state to be in during a zombie apocalypse. Nebraska and South Dakota swapped places this year. Meanwhile, California, Idaho, Minnesota, and Montana dropped out of the top 10 this year in place of Arkansas, Utah, Vermont, and Wyoming.
• Although California has the 10th highest population per square mile, it has better than average farmability per capita, and it’s the best in the nation for solar power. Make sure to avoid the major metros where more monsters will be mashing and mawing away.
• Wyoming made the top 10 this year, which is no surprise to viewers of The Last of Us. While it doesn’t have a high percentage of solar electricity, it does have a low population density and high gross receipts for farmers. Another thing in its favor: Wyoming records a high number of searches for ramen and Mountain Dew, so you just know preppers are stocking up.

The worst states for surviving a zombie apocalypse

Some may see the surviving zombie apocalypse as a zero sum game, and those on the East Coast are far more likely to be right about that.

Eastern states are a lot more densely populated, don’t have nearly as much farmland, and the bottom 10 averages only 4% in solar panel electricity—which you won’t be able to enjoy if you’re getting bombarded by bloodthirsty-bodies anyway.

• New Jersey folks are nearly 11 times less likely to survive the zombie apocalypse as those in North Dakota.
• The population density in the worst 10 states, nine of which are all east of the Mississippi River, is roughly 660 people per square mile—that’s a lot of potential people to ward off or keep supplied and sane.
• These states pull in only an average of $0.29 of farming money per capita—and most of that comes from New York and Florida. Compared to the national median of $1.70 per capita, the eastern farms will likely go hungry when they’re not busy feeding the horde.
• Same as last year, Connecticut and New Jersey are still the two worst states to live in during a zombie apocalypse. However, Rhode Island and Washington jumped into the top 10 this year, replacing Delaware and Ohio.

Ranking the best states for surviving a zombie apocalypse

Does your state stand a chance? Find out below where it falls in the (hopefully fantasy) feeding frenzy.

The final cut

Zombies are tough for any state to deal with, and frankly it’s not surprising that Pennsylvania ranks so low on our list considering how problematic zombies have been for the state in the past. For further proof, check out our list of the most horror movie kills, which proves four movies claimed nearly 600 people in the Quaker State!

But you can save yourself by finding open areas with lots of farmland, solar power, and a whole host of ramen and Mountain Dew.

FAQ

The methodology behind the mayhem

The zombie apocalypse usually comes in the form of some sort of disease spread through blood, bites, and barely recognizable undead bodies chasing down the living.

To survive the existential event, we analyzed the US for population density in each state, the gross receipts of farms per capita, yearly search volume for mountain dew and ramen per state, and each state’s electricity percentage from solar.

Our ranking rationale? More (undead) people, more problems. You’ll need farms for food and trading with other tribes. And you might want to get some electric juice from a stable source like the sun, instead of the usual electric plants possibly overrun by cannibalistic corpses.

• Population density (25% of score): A lower value positively impacts the score.
• Gross receipts of farms per capita (25% of score): A higher value positively impacts the score.
• Percentage of state’s electricity from solar (25% score): A higher value positively impacts the score.
• Yearly search volume for Ramen and Mountain Dew (25% score): A higher value positively impacts the score.
• We normalized the data by working with a 0–1 scale where 1 is better for staying alive (like if you had to pick one place to go farm for the future, it’d be North Dakota) and where 0 is worse for waiting it out (you’ll get zeroed out if you’re in a high population place like New Jersey).

We added these adjustment measurements together with the weight mentioned above to get a score out of 100. But if North Dakota, the best state in the U.S., got a 74—basically a B- score—we may be in trouble.