Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammo: Alabama ranked among the most patriotic states

American flag painted on a barn (Photo: John Riziteli)
American flag painted on a barn (Photo: John Riziteli)

While patriotism is waning nationally, Alabama remains one of America’s most patriotic states, according to a new study released by WalletHub.

WalletHub, a company that describes itself as a “one-stop destination for all the tools and information consumers and small business owners need to make better financial decisions and save money,” ranked every state from most to least patriotic, and placed Alabama at No. 8 overall.

“In order to identify the most and least patriotic states, WalletHub compared them in two overarching categories: ‘Military Engagement’ and ‘Civic Engagement.’”

To calculate military engagement, WalletHub calculated the “percentage of residents who enlisted in the military in 2014, the number of veterans per 1,000 residents, the number of active-duty military personnel per 100,000 residents, and the percentage of people in the military reserves.”

Alabama came in at No. 7 overall in the military engagement category.

To calculate civic engagement, WalletHub calculated the “percentage of residents who voted in the 2012 presidential election, the percentage of people that voted in the 2016 primary elections,” the amount of time residents of the state spend volunteering, the “frequency of Google searches for American flags,” and more.

Alabama fell in the middle of the pack when it comes to civic engagement, coming in at No. 21.

Overall, WalletHub found that patriotism is on the decline nationwide.

“While 38% of Americans said the U.S. was the best country in the world in 2011, that number fell to 28% in 2014,” they found.

But red states remain far more patriotic than blue states. The average patriotic score for more conservative states was 6 points higher than more liberal states.

Virginia, Alaska, South Carolina, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Montana, Washington and New Hampshire joined Alabama in the top ten.

New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island and Illinois are at the bottom of the pack.

To view the full steady, go to WalletHub.com.