Study Finds Virginia is Nation's Most Patriotic State

Virginians have another reason to celebrate this Independence Day after popular financial website WalletHub found the commonwealth of Virginia to be the United States’ most patriotic state.

The study gathered variables such as “military engagement” and “civic engagement” to determine which states are more patriotic than others. Virginia ranked third in military engagement and fifth in civic engagement, while no other state ranked in the top 10 in both categories, no less the top 5.

Virginia was also found to have the fourth-most veterans per capita, trailing only Alaska, Montana and Maine.

The commonwealth is the only East coast city to crack WalletHub’s top 5. The remainder of the top 5 is as follows:

1. Virginia
2. Washington
3. Colorado
4. Idaho
5. Alaska

In order to calculate a state’s military engagement, WalletHub factored the number of residents who enlisted in the military in 2013, the number of veterans per 100,000 residents and the number of active-duty military personnel per 100,000 residents.

To calculate a state’s civic engagement, WalletHub took into account the percentage of residents who voted in the 2012 presidential election, the number of peace corps volunteers per 100,000 residents, the state’s total volunteer rate, the number of Google searches for American flags and the state’s civic education requirements.

For what it’s worth, the five least-patriotic states in the union, according to WalletHub, are: West Virginia, Utah (which fell despite leading the nation in volunteer rate), Rhode Island, New Jersey and New York.