The 250th anniversary of the United States — and the numerous celebrations vaguely aligned with it — have brought Americans plenty of opportunities to consider patriotism in their own lives and their (probably) complicated feelings about it in 2026.
But are some parts of the country really more patriotic than others?
In new data examined by WalletHub, researchers attempted to find that out. Using data from each state to determine rates of military engagement (average enlistment, number of veterans, active-duty and reserve military personnel) and civic engagement (voter turnout, jury participation, volunteer rate and hours logged per resident, AmeriCorps and Peace Corp volunteers, civic life participation and civics education), researchers calculated a 0-100 point score for each state, with 0 being the lowest level of patriotism and 100 being the highest.
And they found that Virginia (with a score of 70.07) was, overall, the most patriotic state, according to these parameters.
“Virginia is 2026’s most patriotic state. For every 100,000 civilians in Virginia, there are nearly 1,761 active-duty military personnel, the third-most in the country. And for every 1,000 civilians, there are nearly 103 veterans, the second-most in the country,” per the researchers.
