What are some of the most depressing places to live in the United States in 2011?

There’s one easy way to gauge the mood of the country — what are people searching for on Google? Google Trends to the rescue. We can type in a query to see how many people from different geographic regions searched for the word “depression” in Google.

However, since there are many reasons a person might type in the word “depression” into Google (the economy, searching for depression glass, etc.), we compiled our own list with over a dozen more specific, commonly-searched for depression terms, including things like “depression symptoms”, “depression test” and “depression treatment” to arrive at this list for 2011.

Sadly, if you’re a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, or Seattle, WA (population-adjusted leader), more people from your city type in these terms more often than in any other city in America. This suggests that Philadelphia and Seattle residents take the honor for the Most Depressing Place to Live in the U.S. in 2011. Pennsylvania and Iowa (population-adjusted leader) lead the most depressing states.

Click through to see the entire city and state list.

This is not a scientific study! This is not a scientific study! If this were a scientific study, I’d have published it in a scientific journal. Instead, it’s just a little fun with Google Trends. We’ve since added the population-adjusted list for comparison.

Most Depressing U.S. Cities in 2011

The following U.S. cities searched for depression-related terms on Google more often than other cities, according to Google Trends.

Original list Philadelphia, PA Dallas, TX Chicago, IL Minneapolis, MN Seattle, WA Houston, TX New York, NY Portland, OR San Diego, CA Phoenix, AZ San Francisco, CA Los Angeles, CA Denver, CO Austin, TX Boston, MA Population-adjusted rankings Seattle, WA Portland, OR Minneapolis, MN Philadelphia, PA Atlanta, GA San Diego, CA San Francisco, CA Boston, MA Austin, TX Denver, CO Charlotte, NC Dallas, TX Chicago, IL Columbus, OH San Antonio, TX

and the states…

Most Depressing U.S. States in 2011

The following states searched for depression-related terms on Google more often than other states, according to Google Trends.

Original list Pennsylvania Kentucky New Jersey Indiana Michigan Utah Ohio South Carolina Alabama Wisconsin Iowa Connecticut Mississippi Tennessee North Carolina Population-adjusted rankings Iowa New Hampshire Connecticut Utah Kentucky Kansas Wisconsin Oregon Colorado Pennsylvania Massachusetts Arkansas Indiana Minnesota Washington

If your city or state is on the list, not to worry… Just because your fellow residents are depressed doesn’t mean you have to be too. Go help spread some cheer and let them know it’s not so bad.

The Most Depressing Places to Live in the U.S., 2011