California Ranked 40th Most Patriotic State & The States Below It Are Surprising.

California has a reputation, and the state is usually the first to embrace it. So when a new national patriotism study ranked California 40th out of all 50 states, plenty of Californians probably shrugged and kept right on enjoying their sunshine without losing a single night of sleep. But here is where things get genuinely interesting: the very same study placed Texas at 45th, Florida at 46th, New York at 49th, and Arkansas dead last at 50th, meaning the state that gets endlessly teased for its laid-back attitudes actually out-patrioted some of the loudest and most enthusiastically flag-waving states in the entire country. The annual WalletHub study, released just ahead of the Fourth of July, ranks all 50 states across 13 specific metrics covering both military engagement and civic engagement, including voter turnout, volunteer hours per resident, military enlistees per capita, and the number of Peace Corps volunteers each state produces.

California's solid civic engagement numbers, including strong voter turnout and a notably high number of Peace Corps volunteers per capita, helped push it comfortably ahead of states that might raise a few eyebrows when you see exactly where they ended up on the list. The study deliberately defines patriotism not as pride or attitude but as measurable, real-world action, looking at what residents actually do rather than how enthusiastically they say they love the country. That distinction works surprisingly well in California's favor, even if the Golden State will never be mistaken for the most flag-forward place in the union. As the Fourth of July approaches and Californians fire up their grills from San Diego to Sacramento, the data makes a pretty compelling case that maybe this state deserves just a little more credit than it typically gets.

Source:https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/most-least-patriotic-states-study-22302795.php