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Florida Is One Of The Worst Places To Be In A Zombie Apocalypse

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Zombies attend Resident Evil S1 Special Screening at The London West Hollywood at Beverly Hills on July 11, 2022 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix)

If you're one of the many people that believe a zombie apocalypse is inevitable, you need to be prepared. And where you live is part of that preparedness. Best case, somewhere less populated where you could live off the land, and with a weapon stockpile. If you watched 'Last Of Us' that's how Bill and Frank were able to survive. So, a little luck and you’d be likely to make it through the apocalypse, at least until they discover a cure. Unfortunately, Florida is not one of the better options. You'd have much better chances in Wyoming or Alaska. Here's why.

For this study, we turn to data from Insuranks. One of the data points taken into account includes where a zombie outbreak is likely to occur. If you're a Resident Evil fan, you know to steer clear of areas that have a lot of pharmaceutical companies. Florida has a lot. Population is also a big factor. More people = more zombies = more danger. Yep, there's a lot of people in Florida. And lastly, a way to fight off zombies. There's where Florida has an advantage. Do we ever have weapons. But are they the right kind of weapons? There's data on that, too.

So where's the best state to be during a zombie apocalypse? Find you an area that looks like "Yellowstone".

Here's how all 50 states rank

Stay away from populated areas

California is last on the list. Especially around heavily populated cities like Los Angeles or San Francisco. Desperate people are just as dangerous as zombies. Keep your core group small. 

How to stay alive

Are you prepared?

There's an old adage in prepping. If you don't have guns, you're prepping for someone who does. Even if you survive not being turned into a zombie, you need to survive the other people, too. A lot of the people surveyed think that Florida is most likely to start the outbreak anyway, so it's possible that none of that matters.

Could you kill a zombie?

Most think they could do it

A lot of people say they'd have no problem killing a (former) loved one if they turned. Many also believed that they'd probably be the first to die.

Which zombie movie is the most accurate?

All scary, some more so

It looks like The Walking Dead is a more likely scenario rather than the Clickers of Last of Us. Hopefully they're slow like Dawn of The Dead and not the speedy zombies Brad Pitt fought in World War Z. Either way, surviving the zombie apocalypse is going to be rough. Physically and mentally. Just remember what Zombieland taught us.

Rule #32: Enjoy the Little Things

Methodology

To rank the states, we analyzed 1289 Google search terms relating to zombie apocalypses from January 2019 through December 2022. We looked at the average number of monthly searches and compared it to each state’s population, per 100,000 residents.

In January 2023 we surveyed 1,047 Americans to get their feedback on zombies and preparing for a zombie apocalypse. Respondents were 48% female, 49% male, and 3% non-binary/non-conforming, with an age range of 18 to 79 and an average age of 40.

Joe Winner spends his days combing through memes and off beat stories to bring you the side of Florida not always seen.