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How many people in Massachusetts are using AI right now? What data shows

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How many people in Massachusetts are using AI right now? What data shows

One in three Massachusetts residents use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Claude, according to Microsoft data.

Generative AI can create words, music, pictures, or videos, based on user prompts. For example, if you type a prompt asking for a fictional story, the AI tool will generate a passage with a setting, characters, and plot.

About 33.4% of working-age residents in Massachusetts use these tools, placing the state 11th in the U.S., according to Q1 2026 data. Hampshire County, home to the Five College Consortium, has the highest AI usage rate, at 45.1%.

The ChatGPT app icon is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken on Oct. 27, 2025.

Microsoft found that counties with more employment in professional and technical services, corporate management, healthcare, information and media, and finance tend to have higher AI usage. Additionally, counties with larger shares of residents ages 18 to 24 tend to have higher levels of AI usage.

Counties with larger shares of workers in manufacturing, agriculture, mining, oil and gas, and construction tend to have lower AI usage, according to Microsoft.

The figures are based on anonymized Microsoft usage data and adjusted for differences in devices, operating systems, internet access, and population size.

Top Massachusetts counties by generative AI usage

Here are Massachusetts’ 14 counties ranked by generative AI usage in Quarter 1 of 2026, and how they rank nationally, according to Microsoft:

  1. Hampshire County – 45.1% of residents (#28 nationally)

  2. Middlesex County – 37.9% of residents (#118 nationally)

  3. Suffolk County – 35.6% of residents (#191 nationally)

  4. Norfolk County – 34.3% of residents (#233 nationally)

  5. Worcester County – 33.5% of residents (#265 nationally)

  6. Plymouth County – 32.9% of residents (#283 nationally)

  7. Essex County – 30.8% of residents (#385 nationally)

  8. Bristol County – 28.2% of residents (#553 nationally)

  9. Hampden County – 27.1% of residents (#645 nationally)

  10. Barnstable County – 25.5% of residents (#790 nationally)

  11. Berkshire County – 24.7% of residents (#878 nationally)

  12. Nantucket County – 24.1% of residents (#937 nationally)

  13. Franklin County – 23.8% of residents (#961 nationally)

  14. Dukes County – 15.4% of residents (#2,450 nationally)

Top states by generative AI usage

Here are the 50 states ranked by generative AI usage in Quarter 1 of 2026, according to Microsoft:

  1. Maryland (24 counties) – 36.3% of residents

  2. Utah (29 counties) – 35.7% of residents

  3. Texas (254 counties) – 35.3% of residents

  4. Virginia (133 counties) – 34.7% of residents

  5. New Jersey (21 counties) – 34.5% of residents

  6. Nevada (17 counties) – 34.2% of residents

  7. California (58 counties) – 34.0% of residents

  8. Connecticut (9 counties) – 34.0% of residents

  9. Georgia (159 counties) – 33.7% of residents

  10. Florida (67 counties) – 33.6% of residents

  11. Massachusetts (14 counties) – 33.4% of residents

  12. Illinois (102 counties) – 33.3% of residents

  13. New York (62 counties) – 32.7% of residents

  14. Rhode Island (5 counties) – 32.5% of residents

  15. Colorado (64 counties) – 32.3% of residents

  16. Washington (39 counties) – 32.2% of residents

  17. Arizona (15 counties) – 31.4% of residents

  18. Hawaii (5 counties) – 30.6% of residents

  19. Delaware (3 counties) – 30.6% of residents

  20. New Hampshire (10 counties) – 30.2% of residents

  21. North Carolina (100 counties) – 30.1% of residents

  22. South Carolina (46 counties) – 29.1% of residents

  23. Oklahoma (77 counties) – 28.9% of residents

  24. Idaho (44 counties) – 28.8% of residents

  25. Kansas (105 counties) – 28.6% of residents

  26. Tennessee (95 counties) – 28.5% of residents

  27. Oregon (36 counties) – 28.4% of residents

  28. Ohio (88 counties) – 28.3% of residents

  29. Wisconsin (72 counties) – 28.2% of residents

  30. North Dakota (53 counties) – 28.2% of residents

  31. Michigan (83 counties) – 27.4% of residents

  32. South Dakota (66 counties) – 27.4% of residents

  33. Alabama (67 counties) – 27.3% of residents

  34. Pennsylvania (67 counties) – 27.2% of residents

  35. Indiana (92 counties) – 26.8% of residents

  36. Missouri (114 counties, 1 independent city) – 26.8% of residents

  37. Nebraska (93 counties) – 26.4% of residents

  38. Minnesota (87 counties) – 26.3% of residents

  39. Louisiana (64 parishes) – 26.1% of residents

  40. Arkansas (75 counties) – 26.0% of residents

  41. Wyoming (23 counties) – 25.5% of residents

  42. Kentucky (120 counties) – 25.1% of residents

  43. Iowa (99 counties) – 24.4% of residents

  44. New Mexico (33 counties) – 23.9% of residents

  45. Alaska (19 organized boroughs, 1 unorganized borough) – 23.6% of residents

  46. Vermont (14 counties) – 23.3% of residents

  47. Mississippi (82 counties) – 22.9% of residents

  48. Montana (56 counties) – 22.7% of residents

  49. Maine (16 counties) – 21.4% of residents

  50. West Virginia (55 counties) – 20.8% of residents

Clare Mulroy of USA TODAY contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Where Massachusetts ranks for AI use in US. Data shows its high

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