A CivicScience survey of more than 19,000 U.S. Adults from April 2020 to June 2025 found that half of all Americans refer to fizzy drinks as "soda."

In fact, in 39 of the 50 U.S. states, a plurality of residents refer to carbonated beverages as "soda." But in nine Midwest and Rust Belt states, "pop" was the most popular answer. Meanwhile, residents of Louisiana and Mississippi are most fond of the term "coke" for all such drinks. Generally, the term "pop" is common in the Midwest and Pennsylvania, while "coke" is common in the South.

Data Source: CivicScience InsightStore
Visualization: Infogram

Want to weigh in? You can answer this ongoing survey yourself here on CivicScience's free polling site.

Posted by CivicScienceInsights

43 comments

  1. Doing this by State rather than County leaves out some complexities that I think really define the geographic regions. Not homogenous at all in the Mid-Atlantic/Appalachian/Midwestern states.

  2. This shouldn’t be by state but by county. Because in Western New York, they say pop. 

  3. Surprised that “Coke” has lost Georgia; it was their stronghold because of the HQ in Atlanta. But at least we can still count on Mississippi to lock in the objectively incorrect term as a cultural shibboleth.

  4. I think “Pop” is more common in Washington. At least in Eastern Washington.

  5. I’m from Minnesota. I disagreed with this so I asked my coworker

    “hey Jimmy, if you wanted to order a Diet Coke what would you ask for? Like, soda? Or soda pop? Just coke?”

    He said, “I don’t know. You’re asking a guy that doesn’t drink pop”

    “Soooo, pop.”

  6. I didn’t know wisconsin got Duluth. That is exciting for them.

  7. Growing up in Washington we all said pop. I never heard the term soda until I was an adult living in another part of the country.

  8. Most of the southeast is still coke in my experience, to the point where they will call it coke when ordering from a place with Pepsi products.

  9. “I’ll have a coke, please.”

    “Sure, what would you like?”

    *Bruh, I literally JUST told you what I wanted…………*

    This is how it goes for Minnesotans like myself trying to order a coke in the south.

    Imagine you’re at breakfast and you say “I’ll have an orange juice” and the waiter says “great, what would you like?” and then you say “apple juice, please!” That’s the logic at work here.

  11. Wait, some people refer to it as “coke”? So if someone said “do you want any coke?” They could be asking if you want Fanta/lemonade etc??

  12. Grew up in Indianapolis and it was always coke. Didn’t hear pop until I moved out of state.

  15. Not surprised that WI and MO went soda since Milwaukee and St Louis are soda strongholds. I am surprised that IL joined them. It’s also surprising that more of the south has jumped from “coke” to “soda”.

  16. Growing up, Pop was our shibboleth for who grew up in the area vs who were transplants.

    Looks like the transplants have won out. My own kids call it soda now too.

  17. They used to call em soft drinks on the east coast. Do they still? Also, S.Western IN and parts of western KY say coke and soda almost at the same rate

  18. Another piece of evidence to use when claiming Pittsburgh is as West as you can go and still be Easy Coast

  19. I live just across the border in Vancouver, and I’ve never once heard someone call it “soda.” Interesting.

  20. Anecdotally it seems like there’s been a shift. Growing up (in Utah and spending time around relatives in Idaho pretty frequently) we all called it pop. Felt like that was the “western” word for it, while soda was the coastal or eastern word.

    At some point when I was in Jr. High or something, I decided that “soda” sounded more refined, so I started using that term instead even though it felt weird to call it that for the first while.

    Now it seems like the “pop” holdouts are more midwestern/great lakes region.

    And of course generalizing all carbonated soft drinks to “Coke” was always more of a southern thing, to my understanding.

  21. I lived in Indiana for 20 years and never once heard it called “pop”.

  22. It confuses me why there’s even a name for such a varying group of drinks in the first place

  25. This is not accurate. South Carolina is definitely coke territory.

  26. My grandmother used to call it “tonic”. Maybe an old northeast thing. She’d also call jeans “Dungarees”, which I think was an old brand name.

  27. I grew up in TN just outside Nashville and it was coke not soda.

  28. Pop is a fun word, soda is just normal, coke is pure insanity

  29. In the south. I ironically call it pop. Sometimes I’ll throw in a full “cold pop”

  30. Calling all fizzy soft drinks “Coke” is some seriously stupid redneck shit

  31. What da duck is wrong with you if you call all pop coke!?

  32. Coke all the way. I call everything fizzy a Coke. Cream Soda? Coke. Sprite? Coke. Champagne? Gimme that Coke!

  33. All soft drinks are Coke gang rise up!

    “What would you like to drink!”

    “What kind of Cokes do y’all have?”

    “We carry Pepsi products.”

    “Come on kids! We’re taking our business elsewhere.”

  34. My family called it “soft drink” and I vividly remember it being referred to as soft drink by a lot of people in school.

  36. Massachusetts. When I was a little kid people still called soda “tonic.” That seems to have largely died out though.

  37. – Coke please. Coke coke.
    – Coke?
    – Coke, yes, coke coke.
    – Coke.
    – Coke coke.
    – very well sir, coke coke coke.

  38. I think its mostly pop in Washington state. Unless its changed in the last decade since I haven’t lived there.

  40. I still think it’s insane to call it coke.

    “Something to drink? ”

    “Yes, I’ll have a coke. ”

    “What kind? ”

    “Mountain Dew.”

  42. Soda is just plain fizzy water without sweeteners, like a soda with lime or vodka soda. Pop is a sugary drink *with sugar*. Coke, Pepsi, sprite.

    Fizzy water with plain flavor, like la croix, Waterloo, or bubly, is also soda as there is no sweetener.

    -Midwesterner

Comments are closed.