As per statistics compiled by a top data scientist, people in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area and surrounding counties make use of the n-word in Google searches more frequently as compared to the most areas of the US.

The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre media market was ranked 16th out of 196 nationwide for frequency of computer users looking for the word. The racial slur has been used more in online searches by residents of the media market excluding the Johnstown-Altoona media market, as per a study by a data scientist who collected the information for a 2013 report that how racial animus affected the presidential elections of Barack Obama.

The information from Google searches between 2004 and 2007 was used again in a new study. According to Bridget Costello, a sociology professor at King's College, the statistics are worrying. Racism is no longer accepted in public but keep going online anonymously.

"There have been decades of a growing stigma to any kind of racist speech - and the n-word in particular. The Internet, of course, has given people a way to express that stigmatized sentiment", said Ms. Costello.

The study just involved searches for the slur that ended in 'er' and not 'a'. Most words to accompany the search 'were,' 'white' and 'hate'. According to the study, nationwide, the slur was looked as commonly as the words, 'economist,' 'sweater,' 'Daily Show,' and 'Lakers'.

The data comes from effort of Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, who is a data scientist and who has previously worked at Google and presently writes op-ed columns for The New York Times. Davidowitz said that it is complex to judge an area from one study.