Most — and least — sinful US states revealed: How did yours fare?
All sins point to Nevada.
The Silver State won the gold in WalletHub’s new report on the most sinful US states. Following Nevada are Louisiana, California, Florida and Tennessee, according to an analysis of 55 key indicators of immoral or illicit behavior.
“Nevada ranks as the most sinful state in America, which probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise given that one of its most famous cities, Las Vegas, is nicknamed ‘Sin City,’” WalletHub wrote in its report, which was released Tuesday.
“One of the obvious deadly sins in Nevada is greed, given that it leads the nation in casinos, and it also has one of the largest gambling arrests per capita,” the study continued.
Nevada — which is hosting the Super Bowl on Sunday — was also dinged for having the second-lowest volunteer rate in the US and an unusually high percentage of internet trolls.
Louisiana, meanwhile, is tied in first with four other states for the most violent crimes per capita and has the fifth-most thefts per capita, per WalletHub.
The home of Mardi Gras also has one of the highest rates of teen births, retail opioid prescriptions and obesity in the country.
At the same time, California has logged high numbers of mass shootings and elder abuse complaints and a very high rate of aggravated assault arrests per capita.
“Many California residents have given in to lust as well, searching Google for terms relating to pornography and affairs more than people in any other state,” WalletHub wrote.
“Of course, being the home of Hollywood, the Golden State also struggles a bit with vanity, having much higher numbers of plastic surgery centers and other venues concerned with physical appearance than most other states,” the report added.
For its part, New York placed 17th in the ranking.
The five least sinful states are Wyoming, New Hampshire, Idaho, Maine and Vermont, respectively.
To calculate the ratings, WalletHub devised seven main categories — “anger and hatred” (violent crimes and sex offenders per capita, among other factors); “jealousy” (thefts and fraud per capita); “excesses and vices” (obesity rate and drug overdose deaths); “greed” (gambling-related arrests and charitable donations); “lust” (time spent on adult entertainment sites and prostitution arrests); “vanity” (number of plastic surgeons, barbers and manicurists) and “laziness” (time spent watching TV and high school graduation rate).
A score of 100 represents the most sinfulness.
The 5 most sinful states
- Nevada — 60.47
- Louisiana — 55.21
- California — 54.94
- Florida — 50.62
- Tennessee — 50.35
The 5 least sinful states
- Wyoming — 25.63
- New Hampshire — 26.09
- Idaho — 27.04
- Maine — 28.20
- Vermont — 28.20
