Iowa Among The Most Sunburned States

You know that summer has officially arrived when you get your first sunburn of the year. When the weather heats up, Americans love to get outside and enjoy it! But if you don't protect yourself from the sun, you're going to get burned! It turns out sunburns are nothing new in the state of Iowa. The Hawkeye State ranks in the top 10 in a new study of the states with the most sunburns.

So what goes into determining if you are among the most sunburned states? For one, google data. The study looked at which states showed the most increased searches for 'sunburn'. Chances are if you're looking up a sunburn, you're looking for treatments for it! Related searches included things like aloe, menthol, and shaving cream. The time period the study looked at was July 1st through July 6th, the entire time of the 4th of July holiday. Plenty of time for a good sunburn!

Iowa came in number 7 overall, and the only state in the Midwest in the top 10. The number one state? Hawaii. No real surprise there. Alaska came in dead last, again no real surprise. One result that was a shock was that California was just two spots from the least sunburned state. Is everyone in Cali staying inside during the pandemic? Or are they just better at applying sunscreen? South Carolina and Florida tied for second in the sunburn rankings.

The bottom line is you can get sunburn anywhere, even on a cloudy day. I know that we all like to get a bit tan during the summer months, but get that sunscreen on! You don't want to pay a bigger price than sunburn later in life.