Map Shows US States With the Most Psychopaths and Other Dark Personalities
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Do you feel like you're surrounded by narcissists? Buried in psychopaths? Can't swing a cat without hitting a mini-Machiavelli?
Well, it turns out the state you live in may have a baring on how many people you meet with "dark personality traits."
A large-scale psychological study of more than 144,000 Americans measured how many people have such dark factors of personality—including psychopathy, sadism, narcissism and Machiavellianism.
The results, taken from responses to an open questionnaire (try it yourself here!) , revealed differences in the average dark factor score from state-to-state.
Psychologists Morten Moshagen, Benjamin E. Hilbig and Ingo Zettler developed a definition of the dark factors of personality—the "D" score, for short—which instead of viewing the traits as separate, conceives them as overlapping.
Much like the "g" factor underlying intelligence, "D" is a single, unified, dispositional trait from which can step a range of less-than-pleasant behaviors—from lying, cheating and manipulation to more extreme forms of exploitation or cruelty.
People with high "D" scores are not "evil," but may be more likely to pursue personal gain at the expense of others—even finding pleasure in others' pain—and tend to see the world as a harsh, competitive place.
Nevada Tops the Nation in Dark Traits
The state with the highest average "D" score in the U.S. was Nevada, with a score of 2.26 out of 5. This is followed by New York, with a 2.24 score and Texas and South Dakota in joint second with 2.22.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Vermont had the lowest average D score in the nation at 1.96, the only state to have an average D score under 2. This was followed by Utah with a 2.03 and Maine with 2.04.
While the differences between state scores may appear small, they're statistically meaningful across large populations. These averages don't label individuals, but they suggest that certain traits may be more socially tolerated, or rewarded, in some places than others.
The psychologists working with the data emphasize that everyone has some degree of dark traits—and that context matters. These traits might show up in subtle ways, from how people interact at work to how they justify cutting corners or manipulating others to get ahead.
By combining this data with a series of datasets on social adversity— including corruption, inequality, poverty and violence—Zettler and his colleagues have revealed that the environment in which people live may have a bearing on their personality traits.
The team found that people living in societies with more corruption, inequality, poverty and violence are more likely to exhibit "dark" personality traits.
Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about psychology? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.
Reference
Zettler, I., Lilleholt, L., Bader, M., Hilbig, B. E., & Moshagen, M. (2025). Aversive societal conditions explain differences in "dark" personality across countries and US states. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(20), e2500830122. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2500830122
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