PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Google’s latest Year in Search overview shows what people across each country and each city were searching for throughout 2022. For Portlanders, the theme seems to be child care.
Child care presented a challenge for parents even before COVID-19 began to spread across the U.S., but the pandemic added an extra layer. Between job layoffs, the childcare facilities that closed down for health concerns and those with staffing shortages, many parents were forced to reconsider their child care options.
Google’s Year in Search reported that Portland was the only American city with “best daycare” as the most popular “near me” search.
Here are the rest of the area’s top 10 searches, according to Google Trends.
- Best daycare near me
- Best preschool near me
- Infant care near me
- Kindergarten near me
- Pre k near me
- Childcare near me
- Gas prices near me
- Cheapest gas near me
- Central air installation near me
- Cooktop repair near me
Even though it didn’t make the top 10, ‘blue lobster’ was the top trending animal for Portlanders — despite the rare blue lobster being caught in Portland, Maine, this year.
Google Trends also lists Portland as one of three cities that had the Jennifer Aniston salad as its top trending recipe. Many TikTokers tried the chickpea salad after hearing that the actress ate it every day on the set of Friends, but Aniston has since said that the viral recipe doesn’t quite match her usual lunch.
In the music category, rap was the top trending genre for Portlanders.
For the U.S. overall, Wordle, election results, Betty White, Queen Elizabeth and Bob Saget were top searches.