WalletHub ranked all 50 American states in terms of how patriotic its inhabitants are and found that patriotism is plummeting in the U.S.
According to the report, in 2011, 38 percent of Americans said the U.S. was the best country in the world, but in 2014 that number dropped to 28 percent.
While is appears patriotism in on the downswing across the board, it is still clear from the results of the study that some states are prouder to be Americans than others.
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Virginia took the top spot in the ranking, with the other southeastern states rounding out most of the top 15.
New York came in dead last, followed not far behind behind by New Jersey, as two of the least civically or militarily engaged states in the nation.
The states were all ranked in these two key dimensions, according to the report.
Military engagement was gauged by the percentage of residents who enlisted in the military in 2013, the number of veteran residents and the number of active-duty personnel who live in the state.
Civic engagement was gauged by the percentage of residents who voted in the 2012 election, the volunteer rate, the number of Peace Corps volunteers, the frequency of Google searches for American flags and the state’s Civics Education requirement.
The report found that red states barely beat out blue states as more patriotic. Red states averaged a rank of around 24 and blue states were at about 27.
Read the full report here.
