Virginia Is 23rd Most Sinful State In America

You’d think Nevada — home to “Sin City” — would be America’s most sinful state. But that's not the case, according to the personal finance site WalletHub, which ranked each state based on what it calls a “vice index.” Florida ranked No. 1 as the most sinful with an index score of 57.27, out of 100, followed closely by California with a score of 55.76. Nevada ranked third with a score of 53.51.

The folks in Vermont, the least sinful state, are virtuous in comparison. Virginia ranked 23rd in the country with a vice index of 44.07. Nearby states of Maryland ranked 26th with a vice index of 43.31; West Virginia placed 29th with a score of 40.44; North Carolina ranked 25th with a score of 43.39; Pennsylvania placed 21st with a score of 44.63; and New Jersey ranked 15th with a score of 46.93.

The study considered seven “sins” to determine its rankings: anger and hatred, jealousy, excesses and vices, greed, lust, vanity and laziness. WalletHub evaluated those qualities using 38 relevant metrics, which it weighted. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with 100 representing the highest level of sinfulness.

Virginia's biggest failings seem to be that it ranked 9th in vanity and 19th in greed. When it comes to anger and hatred and excesses and vices, the state ranked 32nd and 37th, respectively.

A map of the rankings shows southern states are decidedly more sinful than their northern counterparts.

Nevertheless, here's how Virginia ranked overall:

Anger and Hatred: 32nd

• To evaluate anger and hatred, WalletHub analyzed a state's violent crimes per capita. Alaska was the most angry state while Maine was the lease angry.

Jealousy: 28th

• To decide which state was most jealous, WalletHub looked at thefts per capita. New Mexico was the most jealous state and New Hampshire was the least.

Excesses and Vices: 37th

• The site looked at excessive drinking to determine rankings for excesses and vices. Wisconsin ranked first in excessive drinking and Oklahoma ranked the least.

Greed: 19th

• WalletHub reviewed population percentage with gambling disorders to evaluate greed. Mississippi had the lowest percentage of its population with a gambling disorder while Michigan had the highest number.

Lust: 24th

• For this category, the site looked at the average time spent on adult entertainment sites. Mississippi topped the list. Rhode Island residents spent the least amount of time on such sites.

Vanity: 9th

• To determine how vain a state is, WalletHub looked at the number of beauty salons per capita. New York, unsurprisingly, had the most and Alaska — equally unsurprisingly — had the least.

Laziness: 31st

• Finally, the study looked at how inactive a state's adults were to determine which state was the laziest. According to WalletHub, Arkansas had the highest percentage of couch potatoes while Colorado had the least.

Click here to see the complete list and methodology.

Image via Per Bengtsson/ShutterStock

Written By Dan Hampton, Patch National Staff, with additional reporting from Editor Deb Belt