This is the Fastest-Talking State in America

When you picture real fast-talkers, do you think of Oregonians? If so, you have correctly predicted the fastest-talking state in the union, according to new research.

The analytics firm Marchex looked at 4 million taped calls to measure things like how fast people talked, how dense their speech was and how long they stayed on hold without hanging up, The Atlantic reports. That resulted in a full ranking of states, from fastest-talking to slowest-talking, with Oregon coming in first and Mississippi coming in last:

1. Oregon
2. Minnesota
3. Massachusetts
4. Kansas
5. Iowa
6. Vermont
7. Alaska
8. South Dakota
9. New Hampshire
10. Nebraska
11. Connecticut
12. North Dakota
13. Washington
14. Wisconsin
15. Rhode Island
16. Idaho
17. Florida
18. Pennsylvania
19. New Jersey
20. West Virginia
21. Maine
22. Colorado
23. California
24. Missouri
25. Montana
26. Indiana
27. Hawaii
28. Virginia
29. Nevada
30. Arizona
31. Utah
32. Michigan
33. Tennessee
34. Maryland
35. Oklahoma
36. Wyoming
37. Delaware
38. New York
39. Kentucky
40. Illinois
41. Ohio
42. Arkansas
43. Georgia
44. Texas
45. New Mexico
46. North Carolina
47. Alabama
48. South Carolina
49. Louisiana
50. Mississippi

Surprised New Yorkers don’t rank so high at #38? Don’t worry about the Empire State; they’re still motormouths, ranking the highest in density of speech by using the most words per interaction, with Oklahomans using the least.

[The Atlantic]