Los Angeles is America’s “Most Inked Market”

“Wear your heart on your skin in this life,” wrote Sylvia Plath. Her words are commonly interpreted as a call to live honestly and openly, but they could also be – and often are – co-opted as a rallying cry for those who choose to adorn their skin with tattoos and other forms of body art. A 2012 Harris Poll found that tattoos were making cultural inroads, edging away from the fringe and toward the mainstream, with the percentage of Americans saying they had at least one growing from 14% in 2008 to 21% in 2012. But where might one find the greatest concentration of human canvas among the ten largest U.S. cities? And how do those markets’ inhabitants feel about tattoos and the people who have them?

According to the study, Americans in two California markets – Los Angeles (26%) and San Francisco (25%) – are more likely than those in any of America’s other top ten markets to have at least one tattoo. However, by virtue of tattoos per person Los Angeles, pulls ahead as the “Most-Inked Market;” San Franciscans are twice as likely as their southerly neighbors to have just one tattoo (13% San Francisco vs. 6% Los Angeles), while Los Angelinos are three times as likely to indicate having five or more (9% Los Angeles vs. 3% San Francisco).

These are among the findings of a Harris Poll of 2,102 U.S. adults, ages 18 and older and living in the top 10 American markets by population (roughly 200 per market), surveyed online between March 11 and 17, 2014. The study utilized Major Market Query, an omnibus survey offering a sample of the 10 top major metropolitan areas of the United States.

On the other end of the spectrum, residents of Atlanta, GA (15%) are less likely than those in any other major market to profess having at least one tattoo.

Overall, pluralities see people with tattoos as less attractive (35%), sexy (31%), intelligent (27%), healthy (23%) and spiritual (21%) than those without. Delving into the individual markets:

•     Bostonians are most likely to see those with tattoos as less attractive (45%); New Yorkers are least likely to indicate the same (29%).
•     Texans are most likely to see those with tattoos as less sexy (38% Houston, 36% Dallas/Fort Worth); New Yorkers are least likely to indicate the same (26%).
•     On the other hand New Yorkers are most likely to see those with tattoos as less intelligent (31%); residents of Washington, D.C. (22%) and Dallas/Fort Worth (23%) are least likely to indicate the same (29%).
•     Residents of Atlanta (31%) and Houston (30%) are most likely to see those with tattoos as less healthy; Philadelphians are least likely to indicate the same (18%).
•     Atlantans are also most likely to see those with tattoos as less spiritual (31%); those in Washington, D.C. are least likely to believe this (17%).