The AI Diffusion Index

United States AI Diffusion AI Adoption Across the Nation

Blog Report Data

Approximately three in ten Americans now use AI tools, but that conceals a 16.7-point gap between urban and rural counties. This page maps AI diffusion for every state and every county.

National AI Diffusion 31.3% working-age Americans using AI tools
Highest State 36.3% Maryland
Highest County 73.2% Williamsburg, VA
Metropolitan vs. Rural Gap 16.7pp 32.9% metro vs. 16.2% rural
State AI user share
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AI diffusion is measured as the share of people between ages of 15 and 64 who have used a generative AI product. This measure is derived from aggregated and anonymized Microsoft telemetry and adjusted to reflect differences in OS and device-market share, internet penetration, and country population. Additional details on the methodology are available in our AI Diffusion technical paper.
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county rankings, and local industry patterns.

The urban-rural divide

AI usage is significantly concentrated around large metropolitan areas, technology corridors, and university-centered communities. Metropolitan (>50,000 people) counties have an average AI User Share of 32.9%, compared with 21.8% in micropolitan (5,000–50,000 people) counties and 16.2% in rural counties.

Because most Americans live in metropolitan counties, these areas shape the national picture. Rural counties account for 3.0% of the population, which means their experience can be easy to miss in national averages even when the gap is large. It’s critical, however, to not overlook the gap between urban and rural counties and why that divide exists.

County AI user share
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AI diffusion is measured as the share of people between ages of 15 and 64 who have used a generative AI product. This measure is derived from aggregated and anonymized Microsoft telemetry and adjusted to reflect differences in OS and device-market share, internet penetration, and country population. Additional details on the methodology are available in our AI Diffusion technical paper.
Connecticut switched from 8 counties to 9 planning regions in 2022; those regions do not appear on the map, though all 9 are present in the leaderboard, search, and tables.

The college-town effect

Young adults are adopting AI faster than other age groups, and county-level AI adoption rates reflect this. Counties with larger shares of residents ages 18 to 24 tend to have higher AI User Share.

The college connection is striking. Among counties and county-equivalent areas with at least 10,000 residents, each of the top 15 counties by AI User Share has a college or university. Williamsburg, Virginia, home to the College of William and Mary, has the highest AI User Share in the country at 73.2%, and a highly concentrated young population, with 36.2% of its residents ages 18 to 24. Harrisonburg, Virginia, home to James Madison University, follows at 67.5%. Madison County, Idaho, home to Brigham Young University-Idaho, ranks third at 67.2%, with 46.4% of residents between the ages of 18 and 24.

This reflects a broader national trend. As the young-adult share of a county’s population rises, AI User Share tends to rise as well, even after accounting for whether a county is metropolitan, micropolitan, or rural. This finding is consistent with survey data from Pew and Gallup, both of which show that younger adults have the highest AI adoption rates among age groups.

The connection to college campuses is strong, but AI use among young adults is not limited to schoolwork. Surveys show that adults under 30 use AI for a wide range of tasks, including information search, brainstorming, work, email writing, image generation, and entertainment.

Top 15 counties by AI User Share

    Metropolitans ranked by AI usage

    Among the 35 U.S. metropolitan areas with working-age populations above 1.5 million, the differences in AI usage are bigger than one might expect. Washington, D.C. has the highest rate at 39.7%, followed by Dallas at 39.4%, Miami at 38.6%, Houston at 38.4%, and Atlanta at 38.0%. Pittsburgh has the lowest rate at 25.8%, followed by St. Louis at 26.8%, Columbus at 28.7%, Indianapolis at 28.8%, and Detroit at 29.1%.

    The ranking shows that large population size does not explain AI adoption. High usage is also not limited to traditional technology hubs.

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    Industry association with AI usage

    The local job base adds another important layer. Counties with larger concentrations of knowledge-intensive work tend to have higher AI usage, even after accounting for other county characteristics. The strongest positive relationship appears in professional and technical services, followed by services overall, headquarters and company management, health care, information and media, and finance.

    A different pattern appears in counties with larger goods-producing job bases. Counties with more employment in manufacturing, agriculture, mining, oil and gas, and construction tend to have lower AI usage. Goods-producing industries show the largest negative relationship in the chart.

    These findings should not be read to mean that some industries can use AI and others cannot. AI is already creating opportunities across sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture, construction, and energy. Rather, the pattern likely reflects where AI adoption is currently most concentrated. While our analysis cannot directly identify which industries' workers are using AI, these patterns align with firm-level surveys showing the highest AI adoption rates in professional services and financial firms.

    Bars show the controlled percentage-point (pp) association between a county's industry job share and AI usage.

    States ranked by AI usage

    Across the 50 states, AI usage ranges from Maryland at 36.3% down to West Virginia at 20.8%. The dotted line marks the 31.3% national average.