WalletHub, the personal finance website, completed a study ranking the 50 states from most to least patriotic. The website defined patriotism as a combination of military engagement and civic engagement.
Military engagement was determined by average military enlistees per 1,000 civilian adults between 2015 and 2020; veterans per 1,000 civilian adults, active-duty military personnel per 100,000 civilian adults and share of civilian adult population in military reserves.
Civic engagement was defined by the share of adults who voted in the presidential election; share of adults who voted in the 2020 primary elections; volunteerism per resident; AmeriCorps volunteers per capita; Peace Corps volunteers per capita; trial and grand jury participation per civilian adult; share of residents who participate in any groups, organizations or associations in the past year; and U.S. history/civics education requirements. All categories had different weights in scoring, with voting in the 2020 presidential election weighted at the top.
WalletHub used a 100-point system in which military engagement could have a maximum of 25 points and civic engagement could have a maximum of 75 points.
Colorado was found to be sixth in the nation for patriotism with nearly equal ranking scores for military engagement (11) and civic engagement (10). Virginia was No. 1 with a high ranking in both military and civic engagement, and Arkansas was 50th overall.
All states in ranking order based on total combined scores:
Top 10 most patriotic states:
1. Virginia
2. Alaska
3. Montana
4. Maine
5. Oregon
6. Colorado
7. New Hampshire
8. Washington
9. Maryland
10. Hawaii
At the bottom of the list is Arkansas.
