Them's Fightin' Words: Study Finds Texas 2nd Most-Hated State

AUSTIN, TX — Them there's fightin' words, y'all: A new study found that Texas is the second most-hated state in the U.S., sandwiched between California and New Jersey.

Researchers at the lifestyle website Best Life achieved the reckoning after considering various metrics including U.S. Bureau of the Census statistics illustrating population drops or rises along with findings of a Gallup poll asking respondents if they considered their state the best in which to live. Data also were pulled from an Instagram survey by Matt Shirley, who asked his 300,000-plus followers to identify the state they hailed from and the one they liked the least.

The upshot: The Lone Star State yielded a 68 percent level of state pride; other states most hating Texas are Alaska, California, New Mexico and Oklahoma; and the collective population of Texas-hating states is 46.3 million. Given those results, the state's "Hatred Index" is 758, according to the research.

By comparison, New Jersey — the most hated state of them all, according to the study — has a "Hatred Index" of 818. The state just below Texas in terms of hatred, California, scored a "Hatred Index" of 705. Rounding out the top ten most-hated states are: Oklahoma, Florida, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, Alabama and Kansas.

So what's the least-hated state? The honor goes to Idaho, which has potatoes, and everyone loves potatoes. As far as our ranking goes, we're skeptical in that unique way Texans can be. Heck, we reckon the study might be two sandwiches short of a picnic and maybe even a few pickles short of a barrel.

For more hogwash, um, details, read the full Best Life study.