The United States of Interior Design

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Owning a house is one of the biggest investments a person can make, so it is important to love where you live. But only when you transform a space by expressing your ideal style does a house become a home.

Thanks to the likes of Pinterest, home makeover TV shows and social media, there’s home decor inspiration all around us. Farmhouse and global design styles dominate the current trend cycle, but everyone has their own personal style, often influenced by their surroundings. This made us wonder: what is the most popular design style in every state? We analyzed Google search trends to find out.

Rae Duncan Interior Design recently assessed where in America there is most interest in researching design styles and options, by calculating search volume per capita in each of 50 states and 25 major cities. Then we determined what style is most unusually popular in each of those states and cities.

In most regions, including the west, Midwest, and northeast, a globally-inspired interior design style reigns supreme. The southwest is split evenly between the southwestern and farmhouse styles, while the southeast is dominated by farmhouse trends.

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Despite obvious patterns and trends, some states march to the beat of their own drum when it comes to decorating their home. Massachusetts, Vermont, Florida, Illinois, South Carolina, Washington, and Utah’s styles were unique just to them, compared to trends in neighboring states. Whether it’s a living room with a touch of Asian Zen or a bedroom with mid-century modern flair, these states have style all their own. We salute you.

Large cities are often the trendsetters, and interior design is no exception. Across the country, residents in large cities including Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Denver are filling their homes with worldly touches. Surprisingly, mid-century modern and Southwestern styles were among the least popular, favored only by Seattle and Phoenix, respectively.

On the whole, search terms related to interior design have increased by 148% in the past year. That’s no surprise, seeing that we’re all spending more time in our homes during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Which styles are having a moment and seeing an increase in searches? Farmhouse (+41%), modern farmhouse (+32%), Hollywood regency (+18%), Bohemian (+17%), and modern country (+15%).

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Methodology: We conducted an analysis of Google search trends in order to analyze awareness of and interest in interior design. We identified 29 search terms that indicate a level of interest and gathered search averages for the prior year, which we related to state populations to produce a metric representing relative levels of interest. By comparing searches to population, we were able to identify where each city and state falls along a spectrum of interest.

See supporting Google search studies below: