Commercial Internet Domain Names

The number of commercial Internet domain names (“.com”) per firm.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? The New Economy is not just about the hippest, high-flying Internet firms in Silicon Valley. It’s also about all of the ways companies everywhere are putting computers and information technology to work. One way to quantify that is to look at the number of companies that have created a presence for themselves on the World Wide Web. Probably the most effective measure is the number of “.com” domain names registered in each state.21 An Internet domain is an organization’s unique name combined with a “top level” domain designation such as “.com,” “.org,” or “.edu,” denoting commercial sites, non-profit organizations, or educational or research organizations, respectively. According to the most recent data, there are some 2,228,000 “.com” domain names registered in the United States.

THE RANKINGS: The number of “.com” domains registered per firm varies significantly from state to state. The highest-ranking state, Nevada, has almost six times more than the lowest-ranking state, Mississippi. Nevada’s first place finish could well be a dubious distinction: it may be attributable to a large number of gambling and pornographic sites. But most of the other top finishers, including California, Massachusetts, Utah, Colorado, Virginia, and Washington, are among the most high-tech states by almost any measure.

STATES BY RANK
Rank	State	Score
1	Nevada	0.46
2	California	0.45
3	Massachusetts	0.35
4	Arizona	0.34
5	Utah	0.32
6	Colorado	0.32
7	Virginia	0.31
8	Washington	0.30
9	Maryland	0.30
10	New Hampshire	0.29
11	Oregon	0.29
12	Florida	0.28
13	Hawaii	0.28
14	New York	0.28
15	New Jersey	0.28
16	Delaware	0.27
17	Rhode Island	0.26
18	Connecticut	0.26
19	Vermont	0.25
20	Illinois	0.24
21	Texas	0.24
22	Georgia	0.24
23	Minnesota	0.23
24	Alaska	0.21
25	Pennsylvania	0.20
26	Kansas	0.20
27	Ohio	0.20
28	Maine	0.20
29	Missouri	0.19
30	North Carolina	0.19
31	Indiana	0.18
32	Wisconsin	0.18
33	Tennessee	0.17
34	New Mexico	0.17
35	Oklahoma	0.17
36	Michigan	0.17
37	Idaho	0.16
38	South Carolina	0.15
39	Wyoming	0.15
40	Nebraska	0.14
41	Montana	0.14
42	Kentucky	0.13
43	Alabama	0.13
44	Louisiana	0.13
45	Iowa	0.13
46	West Virginia	0.11
47	South Dakota	0.11
48	Arkansas	0.11
49	North Dakota	0.09
50	Mississippi	0.08

	U.S. average	0.26

ALPHABETICALLY
State	Rank	Score
Alabama	43	0.13
Alaska	24	0.21
Arizona	4	0.34
Arkansas	48	0.11
California	2	0.45
Colorado	6	0.32
Connecticut	18	0.26
Delaware	16	0.27
Florida	12	0.28
Georgia	22	0.24
Hawaii	13	0.28
Idaho	37	0.16
Illinois	20	0.24
Indiana	31	0.18
Iowa	45	0.13
Kansas	26	0.20
Kentucky	42	0.13
Louisiana	44	0.13
Maine	28	0.20
Maryland	9	0.30
Massachusetts	3	0.35
Michigan	36	0.17
Minnesota	23	0.23
Mississippi	50	0.08
Missouri	29	0.19
Montana	41	0.14
Nebraska	40	0.14
Nevada	1	0.46
New Hampshire	10	0.29
New Jersey	15	0.28
New Mexico	34	0.17
New York	14	0.28
North Carolina	30	0.19
North Dakota	49	0.09
Ohio	27	0.20
Oklahoma	35	0.17
Oregon	11	0.29
Pennsylvania	25	0.20
Rhode Island	17	0.26
South Carolina	38	0.15
South Dakota	47	0.11
Tennessee	33	0.17
Texas	21	0.24
Utah	5	0.32
Vermont	19	0.25
Virginia	7	0.31
Washington	8	0.30
West Virginia	46	0.11
Wisconsin	32	0.18
Wyoming	39	0.15

Source: Anthony Townsend, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1999 data.

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