Let’s leave politics aside for a few minutes and take a look at the nonpartisan favorite colors in every state, and in the country over all. What five colors do we love most? And conversely, which do we love least?
Singulart, an elegant online source for original artwork, wanted to find the answers to these questions and the reasons for American choices, so they took an extensive survey, and also spoke with Karen Haller, author of The Little Book of Color, How to Use Color Psychology to Transform Your Life to provide psychological insight on colors, and how we connect with them.
When the votes were tallied, they found that Americans overall have five favorite colors: blue, purple, green, red and pink. What? No yellow in the top 5?
When asking U.S. residents their reasoning behind their favorite color, the main reason given was because it was their favorite from being a kid, which Haller refers to as ‘personal color association.’ This is explained as when we see a color and even if we don’t necessarily remember the event or the reason why, all those feel-good feelings associated with it, come flooding back.
Also, the color that makes people feel happier and calmer was given as a top reason, which might be explained by color having the power to change how we think, feel and behave in an instant, according to Haller.
Now that we know which colors are Americans’ favorites, let’s analyze which are the favorite colors in every state and rest assured that politics have absolutely nothing to do with this survey:
Favorite Colors in Every State
As you can see from the map above, blue clearly tops the list of America’s favorite colors in every state, with 39 out of 50 states selecting blue as number one. That may or may not be surprising, depending on what your personal favorite is. As Haller explains, our love of this color is often because it connects us with nature – especially the blue of the skies and oceans.
In second place is purple, with six states choosing this most royal hue. Haller shares that this represents inner contemplation; and green in third place, is often associated with balance and harmony.
Red and pink make up the top five favorite colors of the U.S. Red represents energy and stamina, and pink compassion and nurturing love.
It’s interesting to note that Wyoming is the only state whose residents predominantly said they didn’t have a favorite color. While that might sound odd, Haller explains that we’re actually only about 20% conscious of our color choices, so it makes sense that for many, there’s no immediate strong connection with any particular hue or color.
And the least favorite?
In contrast, America’s least favorite color is beige, followed by brown, silver, gold and indigo. Interesting that we’re so against metallics, is it not. And indigo? We’re wondering if some of the people questions knew exactly what that color looks like.
All politics aside, Americans seem to have rather strong feelings about their favorite colors in every state. Check out which ones we love first and last.