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.

On the civics side, researchers found that Virginia has strong voter turnout (with a whopping 72.9% of residents voting in the 2024 presidential election), the fifth-highest number of Peace Corps volunteers, and is one of the states with civics requirements for high school graduation.

Montana, Vermont, Colorado and Oregon also lead the top-ranked states:

Meanwhile, the least patriotic state was Arkansas, with a combined score of 28.23, while New York (28.96), Louisiana (32.82), Alabama (34.45) and Florida (36.19) rounded out the bottom of the list.

“The most patriotic states have a lot of residents who serve or have served in the armed forces, high voter turnouts during elections and a high share of the population volunteering with national or local organizations,” Chip Lupo, a WalletHub Analyst, wrote alongside the study.

“Patriotism also isn’t concentrated in any one particular area – the top states are located in vastly different geographic regions,” Lupo continued.

One interesting note from the researchers found that, on average, the “blue” states (based on their 2024 election votes) ranked higher in these participation-based patriotism stats than their “red” counterparts.

At a time when patriotism can feel fraught, it can be helpful to remember that national pride doesn’t always appear in one uncritical, fireworks-blasting, screaming bald eagle form.

A Pew Research Center survey on national pride in late 2025 found that Americans were more likely to “offer a negative sentiment when asked what makes them proud” about their country — with some clear party-line differences in what made Americans proud.

“I am proud to be an American because our citizens are free to speak up about the dictator that resides in the White House,” one Democratic woman said, for example, in her response to the survey.

The Pew survey also noted that Americans who identified as Republicans or Democrats were more likely to use different specific words in their responses, with Republicans more likely to mention both “God” and “President Donald Trump” by name. They were also more likely to use the term “illegal” or talk about the military, while professing that the things they were most proud of were “freedom, the economy, the people, current leaders, our international standing/affairs and the political system.”

One example from a 64-year-old Republican woman: “Donald Trump and his Cabinet …. Our country is no longer a laughing stock worldwide and is now a military and economic superpower. We are respected by the entire world and our economy is booming once again. We’re cracking down on crime and dealing with gangs and thugs and illegal aliens.”

Democrats and Democratic-leaning individuals were, by contrast, more likely to use the word “embarrass” and words speaking to this specific cultural moment (literally using the words “current, moment, now” and “nothing” in their answers about what makes them proud. They are also more likely to mention “democracy” and “diversity” too, with their points of pride also including “freedom,” but ranking “people, diversity and multiculturalism, the economy and the political system” higher.

If you aren’t sure how patriotic you feel at this exact moment, you’re not alone. As Stephen C. Finley, the inaugural chair at Louisiana State University’s Department of African and African American Studies, explained in comments for WalletHub’s survey, there are other ways you can view patriotism and your role in the systems around it.

“...The best way to show individual patriotism is to advocate that America be the best that it can be, that is, a land and state that has the highest commitment to the well-being and development of all of its citizens,” Finley said. “Rather than acquiescence to a set of ideals and practices that create and reproduce hierarchies across race, socioeconomic status, gender, and (dis)ability, the better ways to show patriotism would involve practices that transform America into an egalitarian and democratic space which move the country toward authentic equity.”

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