The State That Loves Pumpkin Spice The Most Isn't In New England

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Pumpkin spice may evoke cool autumnal evenings spent around a warm fire, but in the United States, the love for the flavor transcends climates and borders. Starbucks is credited with popularizing pumpkin spice flavor after the launch of its now-iconic Pumpkin Spice Latte in 2003, but the name has grown far beyond the reach of the coffee chain. Americans now spend an average of $500 million a year on pumpkin spice-flavored products, with stores like Trader Joe's often offering entire lineups of drinks, desserts, and snacks carrying the name. But even with its universal popularity, some states do crave pumpkin spice even more than others, and no place in the country loves it like West Virginia.

Proof of West Virginian's love for the fall flavor comes from Google Trends, which shows that out of every state The Mountain State searches for it the most. And West Virginia really, really loves the stuff, with only one other rival even coming within 10% of it when measuring what fraction of total searches in the state are about pumpkin spice. The popularity of pumpkin spice does show some correlation with colder climates, as the number two state is Alaska, and all of the remaining top five, Wyoming, Idaho, and Maine, are in the northern half of the country. But the warmer South isn't ignoring pumpkin spice, and it's just as popular in places like Florida and Texas as it is in New York or chilly Minnesota.

With Colorado, Montana, and New Hampshire being other states where pumpkin spice interest peaks, maybe it's the sight of tree-covered mountains that make people crave it. In fact, what's also interesting about the nation's desire for pumpkin spice is that it doesn't even peak in the fall. While search traffic shows a decided drop off during the spring and early summer, searches for the term surges in August. They peak in the middle of that month, just before Starbucks and other places normally launch pumpkin spice flavors, which usually happens the last week of the month. While interest remains high through Thanksgiving, it's the promise of a PSL just around the corner that gets people's cravings going.

Of course if you love pumpkin spice that much you do not need to wait for Starbucks or anyone else. Pumpkin pie spice blend recipes are actually quite simple, with Starbucks' recipe just being cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and clove. The chain also uses real pumpkin in its pumpkin syrup to flavor the drinks, but with its massive popularity there are plenty of pumpkin spice syrups that you can buy year-round, and top brands, like Pink House Alchemy, can be shipped straight to you. So if you live in West Virginia, or anywhere else in our pumpkin-spice-dusted nation, don't let Starbucks have all the fun. At this point nobody is going to bat an eye if you make every day a pumpkin spice day.