The world now Wordles daily. The word game that was drawn up as a love letter from Brooklyn-based software engineer Josh Wardle to his partner Palak Shah became a pandemic obsession for many and has spread now that it’s been bought by The New York TimesThe New York Times.
Wordle owes its popularity to social media, where people share their scores—the little green and yellow squares with a number above—inciting envy, empathy, and even anger. These scores are self-reported and understandable only on the small scale of individuals’ social media feeds. Until now, with the release of a study from WordTips that ranks Wordle whizzes by country, global cities, US states, and US cities based on tweets hashtagged with #wordle in January 2022.
The worldwide Wordle crown goes to Sweden, where it takes an average of 3.27 guesses for its citizens to crack the puzzle. That’s pretty impressive for a country where English is a widely spoken but not official language. Native English speakers in Australia and New Zealand are tied at 3.80. The United States comes in at No. 18, with an average number of 3.92 guesses.
Even as a city-to-city competition, the US doesn’t have any that rank in the top 10. Instead, the list is topped by Canberra, Australia; Jerusalem; Malmӧ, Sweden; Durban, South Africa; Paris; Perth, Australia; Melbourne, Australia; Adelaide, Australia; Manila, Philippines; and Geneva.
Within the United States, St. Paul pulls ahead when it comes to winning Wordle, with an average of 3.51 guesses. Reading, Pennsylvania, tries to prove it’s as word-oriented as its name (we know it’s pronounced “redding,” but give us this) with 3.56, followed by Ann Arbor, MI (3.59); Berkeley, CA (3.61); Malden, MA (3.62); Tulsa, OK (3.62); Richmond, VA (3.63); Portsmouth, NH (3.64); Waukesha, WI (3.64); and Nashville, TN (3.66).
If you’re looking to improve your own personal Wordle score, there are lots of starting word strategies that could help you out.
