TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Florida is 49th in the United States when it comes to patriotism, according a new survey.
The only state less patriotic than the Sunshine State, according to the WalletHub survey, was New York.
The survey ranked each state’s level of patriotism on five categories:
- Number of military enlistees
- Veterans per capita
- Peace Corps volunteers per capita
- Percent of adults who voted in the 2020 Presidential Election
- How many people do volunteer work
The survey ranks were scaled from 1 to 50, with separate numbers for military engagement and civic engagement.
The most patriotic state in the country, according to the survey, was Montana. The state scored an overall 61.91 on the survey’s patriotism scale.
Florida scored a 23.17, landing the state at 49 on the list. The only state with a worse score was New York with 21.64.
Here’s the survey data from WalletHub:
| Overall Rank | State | Total Score | Military Engagement | Civic Engagement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montana | 61.91 | 22 | 1 |
| 2 | Alaska | 56.64 | 1 | 19 |
| 3 | Maryland | 56.12 | 24 | 5 |
| 4 | Vermont | 55.29 | 42 | 2 |
| 5 | New Hampshire | 53.55 | 32 | 4 |
| 6 | North Dakota | 53.28 | 20 | 8 |
| 7 | Wyoming | 53.01 | 8 | 11 |
| 8 | Minnesota | 51.42 | 47 | 3 |
| 9 | Oregon | 50.07 | 34 | 6 |
| 10 | Virginia | 49.61 | 3 | 22 |
| 11 | Utah | 47.81 | 38 | 9 |
| 12 | Idaho | 46.79 | 16 | 12 |
| 13 | Wisconsin | 46.57 | 43 | 7 |
| 14 | Washington | 46.25 | 9 | 16 |
| 15 | Arizona | 44.22 | 17 | 18 |
| 16 | Iowa | 44.09 | 41 | 10 |
| 17 | Kentucky | 43.47 | 21 | 17 |
| 18 | Missouri | 43.33 | 26 | 15 |
| 19 | South Carolina | 42.76 | 4 | 34 |
| 20 | Colorado | 41.53 | 11 | 25 |
| 21 | Delaware | 41.49 | 25 | 20 |
| 22 | Maine | 41.19 | 35 | 13 |
| 23 | Hawaii | 40.79 | 2 | 47 |
| 24 | Ohio | 40.72 | 33 | 14 |
| 25 | North Carolina | 40.56 | 6 | 33 |
| 26 | Nevada | 40.11 | 18 | 28 |
| 27 | Nebraska | 38.83 | 27 | 24 |
| 28 | New Mexico | 36.95 | 13 | 31 |
| 29 | Georgia | 36.05 | 5 | 46 |
| 30 | Tennessee | 35.75 | 30 | 30 |
| 31 | Kansas | 35.50 | 14 | 40 |
| 32 | Oklahoma | 35.42 | 7 | 42 |
| 33 | Indiana | 35.22 | 37 | 26 |
| 34 | Alabama | 34.96 | 12 | 41 |
| 35 | Pennsylvania | 34.67 | 44 | 21 |
| 36 | South Dakota | 34.03 | 23 | 35 |
| 37 | Louisiana | 33.43 | 28 | 32 |
| 38 | Rhode Island | 33.19 | 40 | 27 |
| 39 | Massachusetts | 31.49 | 50 | 23 |
| 40 | Mississippi | 30.67 | 15 | 48 |
| 41 | Texas | 29.96 | 9 | 49 |
| 42 | West Virginia | 29.82 | 36 | 38 |
| 43 | Arkansas | 29.76 | 29 | 43 |
| 44 | New Jersey | 29.63 | 48 | 29 |
| 45 | Illinois | 28.53 | 39 | 36 |
| 46 | California | 27.75 | 31 | 44 |
| 47 | Michigan | 26.81 | 45 | 39 |
| 48 | Connecticut | 26.68 | 46 | 37 |
| 49 | Florida | 23.17 | 19 | 50 |
| 50 | New York | 21.64 | 49 | 45 |
“With the exception of ‘Total Score,’ all of the columns in the table above depict the relative rank of that state, where a rank of 1 represents the best conditions for that metric category,” according to the survey notes.
By a close margin, the WalletHub survey found that states that leaned red, based on their overall vote tallies in the 2020 election, do tend to be more patriotic overall.
Blue states held an average patriotism score of 25.68 versus a 25.32 for red states, where the smaller the number is, the more patriotic the states are.
Still, even the survey notes that patriotism is a complicated subject.
Breaking down the survey by the five categories, New York has the fewest veterans per capita, and scored a 49 on military engagement and a 45 on civic engagement. Georgia had the highest average number of military enlistees while
While Florida wasn’t in the bottom or top five for four of the categories, it was ranked number 50 for lowest volunteer rate, making it the lowest in the country. New York scored a 47 on the volunteer rate, putting it slightly above Florida.
On the engagement scales, Florida scored a 19 on military engagement and a 50 on civic engagement.
The survey defined military engagement as the average number of military enlistees per 1,000 civilians between 2013 to 2018, veterans per 1,000 civilians, active-duty military per 100,000 civilians, and the share of civilians in the military reserves.
Civic engagement was more complicated.
The share of adults who voted in the 2020 presidential race, share of adults who voted in the 2020 primaries, number of volunteer hours per resident, the volunteer rate, the number of AmeriCorps volunteers per capita, how many civilians participated in a trial or grand jury, how many residents participate in groups or organizations, and level of civic education were all factors in scoring civic engagement.
