New Year's Resolutions: Which States Are Most Interested in Better Health, Savings and Leisure in 2024?

At the beginning of a new year, many people set resolutions to improve their lives. MoneyGeek found the states where Americans are most focused on leading healthier lives — both physically and financially — in 2024.

To find these states, we analyzed 2023 and 2022 Google Trends data for all 50 states, examining keyword searches related to quitting smoking and drinking, eating healthy and improving sleep. We also explored search interests for other common resolutions related to personal finance and leisure. Our findings reveal that interest in weight loss is highest in Southern states, while some of the Northeast's most populous states show the lowest search interest in developing healthier habits.

As the New Year approaches, West Virginia stands out as the state with the highest search interest in overall healthier living. With the highest search interest in weight loss and the second-highest for quitting smoking, West Virginians are also looking to get more shuteye in 2024, ranking No.6 in the nation for “better sleep” searches.

Idaho isn’t far behind, holding the second-highest search interest for better sleep and overall healthier living. Vermont comes in third for search interest in healthier living and the highest search interest in healthy eating.

A closer examination of search trends for weight loss reveals a distinct pattern in the South. Four out of the top five states with the highest search interest in "how to lose weight" are in this region, with West Virginia, Mississippi and Alabama taking the lead. Two Midwestern states — North Dakota and Iowa — as well as Idaho in the Northwest, also rank high in weight loss search interest.

The lowest search interest for healthier living is predominantly in the Northeast, with three out of the five states with the lowest search volume being New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey — states that are among the most populous in the region. New Jersey, in particular, has the lowest score for health-related searches among all states analyzed.

On the other side of the country, another densely populated state mirrors this trend. California tied with New Jersey for the lowest score in health-related searches. The Golden State also has the lowest search interest in "quit smoking" and ranks fifth lowest for weight loss searches.

Although popular resolutions often relate to physical health, many people are also make resolutions related to saving money, traveling more and reading more. Among these goals, Kansas leads in searches related to saving more money, New Mexico tops the list for traveling more and Oklahoma ranks highest for reading more. The table below highlights the other top states with strong search interest in these three non-health categories.

MoneyGeek conducted an analysis of Google Trends search volume for eight popular keyword phrases:

• "Quit Drinking"
• "Quit Smoking"
• "How to Lose Weight"
• "Sleep Better"
• "Healthy Eating"
• "How to Save Money"
• "Travel More"
• "Read More"

Google Trends assigns values to search volume by normalizing data for easier comparisons between terms, taking into account geography, time range and relative popularity. A higher value or score in Google Trends signifies that a search query is particularly popular or trending during a given period (with 100 being the highest possible score).

We compared average search interest scores for each keyword across two 12-month periods: October 15, 2022, to December 15, 2022, and October 15, 2023, to December 15, 2023. To determine the Final Score (Health) metric, we averaged the first five search terms, while the Final Score (Non-Health) metric was calculated using the last three. Due to unavailable data, we assigned zero scores for "Quit Drinking" in Wyoming and North Dakota, "Travel More" in Vermont, Wyoming and Alaska, and "Read More" in Vermont.

Our data uncovers key trends in searches related to quitting smoking and drinking, losing weight, improving sleep and adopting healthier diets. These findings offer insights into which states are actively seeking to transition to healthier lifestyles as we enter the New Year. We also examined the search volume for other common resolutions not related to health, including saving money, traveling, and reading more.