It’s getting harder and harder to flex your patriotism on July 4th. Shirts bearing bald eagles have been out of stock ever since hipsters discovered irony, any schlub can pull up Hulk Hogan’s theme song on Spotify and the American flag suit is a bit played out at this point. What’s a true patriot to do?
Well, thanks to a survey conducted by WalletHub, you can crank your patriotism up to Grave Digger doing a backflip levels and spend your Independence Day in one of the most patriotic states in the country.
The personal finance website calculated every state’s level of patriotism (or ‘Merica Index) by measuring their levels of military enlistment and civic engagement. The military engagement metric was rather straightforward, using measurements like number of veterans and active military per 100,000 residents. The civic engagement methodology was a little bit more complex, including the obvious things like voter turnout alongside “frequency of Google searches for American flags.”
States with large military academies and bases had a clear advantage in the race for most patriotic. Outside of that, the survey found that red states were more patriotic than blue states. Check out the top 10 below:
1. Virginia
https://www.instagram.com/p/3odvPVzUbp/
2. Alaska
https://www.instagram.com/p/BGDK7OMmRyE/?taken-by=guinasso86
3. South Carolina
4. Colorado
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHNpw0IBesa/?tagged=colorado
5. Georgia
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHNl7Wxj9Mj/
6. Hawaii
https://twitter.com/tinavballer/status/621865219678076929
7. Montana
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEwgMJkxS1T/
8. Alabama
https://www.instagram.com/p/4vSYKFQkw5/?taken-by=brittneynotsoproper
9. Washington
10. New Hampshire
For the full results, check out the original survey over at WalletHub and plan your road trip playlist accordingly.
