Well hello there, Software Nation!

The 2016 election cycle has been … eventful, to say the least. While many of you will spend Nov. 8 watching the map to see which states light up red or blue, at Capterra we look at the map a bit differently.

Many presidential candidates describe America as a country of doers and innovators. At Capterra, we feel the same, and believe that software is a tool to help Americans do and innovate even more.

Since people from Main Street to Wall Street interact with software every day to get things done, we took our own version of a political poll to determine how Americans view software.

To do this we evaluated reviews submitted to our site over the past year, as well as the geographic distribution of traffic to our software directories. Armed with these data we were able to determine what solutions Americans are talking about the most, where the most talked-about solutions are located in each state, and which states have the most software searches as well as what kinds of software those searches are for.

So if you’re tired of political debate spectacles and national division, take a break and learn about the software solutions that connect us all. #MakeWorkGreatAgain #ImWithSoftware

Most-reviewed software in each state

Writing a review of software—or any product, for that matter—is kind of like casting a vote for it. You’re making yourself heard in the marketplace, giving your preferences a voice, maybe even hoping to persuade other consumers to come around to your way of thinking. Below are the results of our National Software Election.

We counted the number of reviews a solution received from users located in each state. The system with the most reviews won the state, winner-take-all style.

And the next President … er, National Software is: TSheets. This time clock software, won the hearts and minds of the American people. It was the most-reviewed solution in 16 states. Overall, software products focusing on Human Resources won the most states, which is not surprising, given that almost every company requires some sort of HR system to function. Although it does, perhaps, also indicate an American preoccupation with and investment in worker benefits, training, and compensation.

Contrast that with some of the next highest-performing categories of software, which are a bit more vertical-specific, and you start to see some local economic trends. Medical software products were the best-represented in several large states, perhaps reflecting the fact that three of America’s major medical centers are located in California, and that two of the top ten largest hospitals in the U.S. are located in Texas. Similarly, logistics software won a slate of large states as well, reflecting that Chicago, St. Louis, and Atlanta all have been named top logistics cities in the U.S.

Most-reviewed software headquartered in each state

We wanted to take a look at how individual states contribute to the national software landscape. While not every state has a Silicon Valley of their own, many still contribute to the tech economy. We looked at where software companies are headquartered and awarded home states to the system with the most reviews. Find out who won your local software election below.

Electoral college projection: In line with national reviews trends, many states’ most-reviewed system was some type of human resources software. Training, hiring, time tracking, and scheduling software companies have planted roots in 15 states and garnered enough attention nationwide to be the most-talked-about systems.

Only three states (Alaska, South Dakota, and West Virginia) had no software companies reviewed in the last year within their borders. Perhaps the local software markets in these states are ripe for disruption?

Software demand by state

So now we’ve seen what the United States of Software looks like on a state-by-state scale. But which states have the greatest need for software overall? We looked at our website traffic from across the country to indicate which states were most likely to have people looking for a new and/or better system.

“It’s the economy, stupid:” The need for software is likely also an indicator of where growing business are located. Startups especially are often on the hunt for software to automate everyday things like accounting or payroll. Given this correlation, Californians are, unsurprisingly, the most likely to need software, with over a million Californians searching our website over the past year.

But this might shift soon, as Texas and Florida have now surpassed California as the states with the most startups. So it’s not a surprise that Texans were the second-most likely Americans to need a new system, followed by New York and Florida.

One note: for this map we just looked at sheer quantity of business software buyers, not relative to the state’s population, so don’t discount states that have smaller populations, as the relative market there could be more active.

Most popular software type in each state

It’s one thing to know where potential software buyers are located in the U.S., but it’s another thing entirely to know what kind of software they need. For our final glimpse at this great software nation, we pulled data on which software category received the most traffic in each state. Find out what type of business software people in your state need below.

Breaking election update: The idea that America is a country of planners and dreamers is apparently true, as the most sought after software in 23 states was a project management solution. No other category came close.

On an individual level, some states’ software needs were unsurprising. For example, the most-visited directory in Nebraska was farm management software, and with a global boom in tourism, Hawaii’s top industry, has presumably driven an increased need for car rental software in the state. Others came out of the blue for us. Who knew Maine and West Virginia had so many libraries to automate?

Conclusion

No matter what side of the political aisle you fall on, it’s easy to see that software helps to establish connections between Americans nationwide. Whether you’re a C-level financial executive who needs to manage your investment portfolio, or a construction worker who needs to keep track of equipment, Capterra can strengthen that connection by providing you with software user reviews from across the globe.

Because in such crazy times, it’s important to remember that we are part of one nation, indivisible, with liberty and software for all.