Will North Carolina's ranking of top patriotic states surprise you?
Memorial Day and Flag Day have passed, but ahead is that all-American holiday: the Fourth of July.
Grills will be flaring, fireworks will be blasting, and flags will be flying.
Or will they?
Well, sure, in North Carolina, which came close to making the top 20 of WalletHub's study of the most patriotic states. WalletHub is a personal finance company that often analyzes data,
The top 10 patriotic states in the WalletHub report were:
Virginia
Montana
Vermont
Colorado
Oregon
Washington
North Dakota
Maryland
Minnesota
New Hampshire
"Virginia is 2025's most patriotic state. For every 100,000 civilians in Virginia, there are over 1,850 active-duty military personnel, the third-most in the country. And for every 1,000 civilians, there are over 103 veterans, the second-most in the country," WalletHub said.
"It has a high voter turnout rate, with 72.9% of residents having voted in the 2024 presidential election."
North Carolina ranked 24th in the WalletHub report:
Total score: 48.3
Military engagement rank: 6
Civic engagement rank: 36
In comparison, No. 1 Virginia ranked:
Total score: 70.54
Military engagement rank: 3
Civic engagement rank: 6
The bottom 10 states when it comes to patriotism in the WalletHub ranking were:
41: West Virginia
42: Rhode Island
43: New Jersey
44: Indiana
45: Texas
46: Florida
47: Alabama
48: Louisiana
49: New York
50: Arkansas
Source: WalletHub
'The most patriotic states have a lot of residents who serve or have served in the armed forces, high voter turnouts during elections, and a high share of the population volunteering with national or local organizations," said Chip Lupo, WalletHub analyst.
"Patriotism also isn't concentrated in any one particular area, The top states are located in vastly different geographic regions.'
"In order to determine the most patriotic states, WalletHub compared the 50 states across two key dimensions, military engagement and civic engagement." Among the metrics used were:
Military engagement
Average military enlistees per 1,000 civilian adults between 2016 and 2021 (no prior service)
Veterans per 1,000 civilian adults
Active-duty military personnel per 100,000 civilian adults
Share of civilian adult population in military reserves
Civic engagement
Share of adults who voted in 2024 presidential election
Share of adults who voted in 2020 primary elections
Volunteer rate
Volunteer hours per resident
AmeriCorps volunteers per capita
Peace Corps Volunteers per Capita
Trial and grand-jury participation per civilian adult population
Share of residents who participate in any groups, organizations or associations in the past year (civic life)
Civics education requirement
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: North Carolina's most patriotic state ranking: Who is No. 1
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