Whether you
reside near the mountains of Colorado or the swampy bayous of Louisiana, every
state has its high and low points. The cost of some of these low points can have
an unfortunate impact on not only the state, but the nation as a whole.
According to Wallethub, gambling costs the U.S. about $5
billion per year. We also lose approximately $300 million a year to nicotine
dependency. Damaging behaviors from individuals also can contribute to national
economic loss. In recent times, the COVID-19 pandemic has made the low points
of individual states far more prominent and has taken a toll on the nation in a
profound way.
Wallethub has conducted a survey comparing 50
states across 47 key indicators with data ranging from violent crimes per
capita to excessive drinking and gambling. These key
indicators heavily reflect on the quality and productivity of people in
each state. Some of these key indicators include: anger, hatred, laziness, greed,
jealously, lust, and vanity. The method used to conduct this research required using
47 relevant metrics, with each metric being graded on a 100-point scale with the
100 reflecting the highest level of sinfulness. The calculated score for each
state is mainly based on the weighted average across all metrics and are then used
to rank the states. In said ranking, Louisiana comes in 6th place, right below
Florida and right above Tennessee.
States such as
Vermont, Utah, and Michigan are the least problematic states, each ranking low
in crime, theft, and gambling endeavors. Whereas states like Louisiana, New
Mexico, and Alaska rank high in all illicit activities and behaviors such as
crime, theft, drinking, and gambling. When it comes to the state of Louisiana,
moral decency has been on a consistent decline throughout the years. For most
violent crimes per capita, Louisiana ranks 5th. When it comes to the most theft
per capita, the state ranks 1st. Louisiana also ranks 3rd for the highest
percentage of adults neglecting exercise in the country. These are just a few statistics
that categorize Louisiana's overall moral standards as a state to be minimal or
non-existent.
To learn
more about the most sinful states in the U.S., please visit Wallethub.com