You think the fastest talkers in America live in New York? Guess again

There’s a stereotype about New Yorkers doing everything fast, especially talking. You can see it portrayed in films dating back to the 1930s, featuring stars like James Cagney spitting rapid-fire, rat-a-tat dialogue. Conversely, the pervasive image of Southern American speech is that of the loping drawl—essentially, a British accent, only slowed to a fraction of its original speed.

A recent study of the speech patterns of Americans suggests the Southern stereotype isn’t so off the mark, while New York City talkers aren’t quite as speedy as they, or anyone else, imagines they are.

Marchex, a mobile advertising analytics company, used “technology that automatically monitors speech, silence, ringtones and hold times” to determine the tortoises and the hares as far as speech goes, state by state. The fastest talkers, it turns out, live in Oregon. Second place goes to the denizens of Minnesota. In fact, you have to look down to third place before you come across a state that’s near New York City: Massachusetts. New York doesn’t actually appear on the list until the 38th slot.

And the top five slowest talkers in the country? They live in Southern states, unsurprisingly. Mississippians topped the list for the slowest speech, compared to the rest of the country.

Here’s how the rest of the list shook out:

Fastest talkers:

1. Oregon
2. Minnesota
3. Massachusetts
4. Kansas
5. Iowa

Slowest talkers:

1. Mississippi
2. Louisiana
3. South Carolina
4. Alabama
5. North Carolina

A look at the speed of speech in all 50 states, from fastest to slowest:

1. Oregon
2. Minnesota
3. Massachusetts
4. Kansas
5. Iowa
6. Vermont
7. Alaska
8. South Dakota
9. New Hampshire
10. Nebraska
11. Connecticut
12. North Dakota
13. Washington
14. Wisconsin
15. Rhode Island
16. Idaho
17. Florida
18. Pennsylvania
19. New Jersey
20. West Virginia
21. Maine
22. Colorado
23. California
24. Missouri
25. Montana
26. Indiana
27. Hawaii
28. Virginia
29. Nevada
30. Arizona
31. Utah
32. Michigan
33. Tennessee
34. Maryland
35. Oklahoma
36. Wyoming
37. Delaware
38. New York
39. Kentucky
40. Illinois
41. Ohio
42. Arkansas
43. Georgia
44. Texas
45. New Mexico
46. North Carolina
47. Alabama
48. South Carolina
49. Louisiana
50. Mississippi