This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Seeing a line around the block for the newest "Hobbit" film or someone dressed up like your favorite boy wizard wandering around downtown Salt Lake City is pretty typical in the Beehive State.
And no wonder — research done by national real estate search site Estately ranked Utah as the nerdiest state in the nation.
"Utah is just so unbelievably nerdy it could be a Harry Potter theme park," writes Ryan Nickum, blogger for Estately.
We're just missing a certain blue phone booth.
The rankings were based on the number of people who indicated on Facebook they held the following 12 interests:
• Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Cosplay
• Harry Potter
• Star Wars
• Anime movies
• Dungeons & Dragons
• LARPing (Live Action Role-Playing)
• Doctor Who
• Fantasy lit
• Lord of the Rings
• Magic: The Gathering
• Comic books
So while Washington, D.C., took the title for Nerd Hell, Utah was deemed Nerd Heaven.
It's no wonder, with the entire bridge of the USS Enterprise (in its Next Generation iteration) enthralling the more than 100,000 attendees of the Salt Lake Comic Con just last week. Night Flight Comics and Black Cat Comics seem to be thriving, and anyone cruising by Liberty Park on a warm Sunday morning has seen the swordplay that takes place there.
So, to mix some geek metaphors for all you fellow Utah nerds out there: know you can boldly go wherever you want and most of us are going to appreciate your car's TARDIS paint job (I've seen you driving around). Allons-y!
— Sheena McFarland
Twitter: @sheena5427