Instagram makes it fun to post so many moments of our lives. Whether it’s a delicious-looking restaurant meal, a gorgeous sunset behind a city skyline, or a modelesque photoshoot with your friends, our Instagram posts capture how we feel in a given moment. And sometimes, those moments are accentuated by a bright, eye-catching smile.
Shiny Smile Veneers is dedicated to helping you perfect your smile with traditional veneers.
To celebrate World Smile Day on October 7, we sought to answer the question: Which American cities smile the most? Naturally, the first place we went was Instagram.
We conducted a research study using a manual analysis of the presence of smiling faces in 15,000 Instagram photos in 50 major U.S. cities. Does your city smile big? Read on to find out.
Key Findings
- America’s most smiley cities are Cincinnati, OH, Birmingham, AL, and Austin, TX.
- The U.S. cities that smile the least include Baltimore, MD, Providence, RI, and Detroit, MI.
- Of the 57% of Instagram pictures that have people in them, 43% of those people are smiling.
America’s Most Smiley Cities
Over the years, photo-taking trends have steered close to and away from smiling. You might be wondering: From mean mugs to pouty lips, does anyone smile on Instagram anymore? As it turns out, yes they do!
By looking at the locations that users tag their photos with (otherwise known as “geotagging”), we were able to determine the cities with the most smiling faces in photos. In other words, these cities are where you’re most likely to encounter a smile just walking down the street.
According to our results, America’s most smiley cities are Cincinnati, OH, Birmingham, AL, and Austin, TX. A photo was deemed “smiley” under two criteria: 1) if it contained a person and 2) if a person was clearly smiling (with or without teeth).
In photos geotagged with Cincinnati, 57.3% of them include smiling faces. In fact, along with Birmingham (53.6%) and Austin (53.2%), these three cities make up a portion of the mere eight cities where over half of the photos analyzed were “smiley.” The only repeating state within the top 8 was Ohio, since Columbus, OH, ended up with 50% “smiley” photos.
The U.S. Cities That Smile the Least
Of course, you always have a flipside — while some cities are full of smiling faces, in some, whether it be due to regional differences, trends, or mere chance, you find it hard to encounter a friendly face. Our report next analyzed those.
The above cities had the lowest percentage of folks smiling in their photos. The top of the list includes Baltimore (28.6%), Providence (31.4%), and Detroit (32.1%). Notably, many of these cities are concentrated in the Midwest as well as the East Coast, while the most smiley cities did not show particular regional trends.
It could be that the local culture of these cities is a bit more tense, or locals are less confident in their smiles in the first place. It could also be that these cities have fewer tourists, prompting fewer photo opportunities where it is more common to smile.
Smiles on the Grid
Avid Instagram users (including influencers) know that the app’s algorithm works in mysterious ways. Many have shared the hypothesis that photos with faces and people in them perform better in terms of engagement, such as likes and comments.
For example, a clear photo of your face is likely to be pushed to the top of your followers’ Instagram feeds more than a photo of your pet or kitchen makeover. Based on this, we thought it was interesting to dig into the prevalence of human-centered photos on Instagram, compared to photography of inanimate objects.
According to our analysis of 15,000 photos, 57% of Instagram pictures have people in them. This included groups of people and selfies, but our research aimed to capture photos where the human subject was the main theme of the photo. Of that 57%, only 43% of those people are smiling. It was much more common to do a straight face or a modelesque, pouty pose.
However, we did notice some anecdotal trends in our research. For example, if they weren’t posting photos of themselves or other people, Instagram users were likely to post photos of subjects like pets, cars, their meal or drink, and the landscape, particularly sunsets, hiking views, or the view from a plane.
As Instagram becomes an app increasingly focused on by marketers, we also saw a prevalence of text-based infographic posts, particularly advertisements, promotions, or flyers for local events or small businesses. Geotagging these posts seems to be a common method of local event promotion, as well as a way of sharing ideas and inspirational quotes within the community.
Conclusion
A smile is one of the rare forms of universal communication — which is why it’s important to stay smiley, no matter if your city made the list or not. Celebrate World Smile Day with us at Shiny Smile Veneers by giving yourself the gift of the smile you want. They give you the smile of your dreams instantly and are a more affordable alternative to traditional braces — as well as a good choice instead of Invisalign — for people who want to conceal dental issues and smile with confidence. Our snap on veneers are affordable and last two to five years.
Methodology: We manually analyzed 15,000 Instagram posts posted in August 2022 and geotagged the 50 largest U.S. cities. We recorded the presence of at least one person smiling in a photo wherever it occurred to calculate the most smiley cities.
