New Jersey Ranked How Low on Patriotic State List?
These results are not the kind of results that will get you in the 4th of July spirit here in the Garden State.
There was recent research done by WalletHub that ranked the states from most patriotic to least patriotic. the good news is we weren't near the bottom like we usually are in most state rankings. The bad news is we were the bottom.
That's right, of all 50 states, we ranked the 50th most patriotic. Or the least patriotic if you want to word it that way. That is news that makes me very sad, and frankly, it's not consistent with my experiences here in New Jersey. I think we're pretty patriotic.
So how did we get here? What factors dropped us to the bottom of this list? Here are some factors. We rank 49th in veterans per capita, we rank 48th in 'military engagement', and 45th in 'civic engagement'.
Add those all up and things don't work out too well for us in this research. I'd like to think that, despite these categories, New Jersey residents really do love and celebrate America. I know I do. And the people I know in the Garden State do, too.
For the record, our neighbors didn't do well, either. New York was #49, and Pennsylvania was #40.