Yes, Minnesota is a Fast Talking State. But is it the Fastest?

As long as I live I don't think I'll ever forget the conversation my mom (From Minnesota) had with her cousin Ida (from Georgia), when I was about 10 years old. It was just a general conversation of catching up on what was going on with my grandparents and when my mom paused for a breath, I heard mom's cousin drawl;

Get our free mobile app

honey, y'all just talk so fast.

It was the first time that it dawned on me that, yes, we in Minnesota talk fast!

But how fast?

Apparently compared to the rest of the country, pretty fast. So fast, that we have been dubbed the fastest talking state in the country, according to a study done by Preply. To get their findings they reported they,

analyzed data from two nationwide studies based on YouTube videos and call recordings.

From there they,

ranked the average speech rates of Americans from 114 cities and in all 50 states.

Here is what they discovered.

Get our free mobile app

The state of Minnesota as a whole has "the fastest average speech rate...at 5.34 syllables per second". While, Portland, Oregon is the city "with the fastest average rate of speech...at 5.38 syllables per second". Oregon ranked #2 behind Minnesota for fastest talking state.

If you want to slow things down on your conversation Louisiana is the slowest talking state at a pace of 4.78 syllables per second. For my Georgia cousins, you ranked number 5 for slowest talking at 4.89 syllables per second. Full ranks and data for the states can be found HERE.

One other discovery from the study I found entertaining was the states that talk the least, and Minnesota was number two, right behind Iowa. A whole discussion on reddit, about this shared topic, might have a few things to say about that as they shared their insight:

Get our free mobile app

But as another one said:

There is the Minnesota goodbye and if you know, you know...so take Minnesota as least talkative how you will, but keep it speedy Minnesota!