With Fourth of July celebrations able to proceed this year due to the fact that 45% of the population is vaccinated and states have largely reopened, the personal-finance website WalletHub Monday released its report on 2021’s Most Patriotic States in America and ranked the commonwealth number 10.
Virginia’s ranking among some of the 13 metrics the company used to determine its rankings included average number of military enlistees per 1,000 civilian adults, eighth; active-duty military personnel per 100,000 civilian adults, first; Peace Corps volunteers per capita, fourth; percentage of adults who voted in the 2020 presidential election, ninth; volunteer rate, 21; veterans per 1,000 civilian adults, second; civics education requirement, 20; and volunteer hours per resident, ninth.
The company divided those metrics into two dimensions, “military engagement” and “civic engagement.”
The metrics used in the military engagement dimension were 1) the average military enlistees per 1,000 civilian adults between 2013 and 2018 2) veterans per 1,000 civilian adults 3) active-duty military personnel per 100,000 civilian adults and 4) the share of the civilian adult population in the military reserves.
The metrics used by the company in the civic engagement dimension were 1) the share of adults who voted in the 2020 presidential election 2) the share of adults who voted in the 2020 primary elections 3) the state’s volunteer rate 4) the volunteer hours per resident 5) AmeriCorps volunteers per capita 6) Peace Corps volunteers per capita 7) trial and grand jury participants per civilian adult population and 8) the share of the residents who participate in groups and organizations.
The states ranked ahead of Virginia in the survey were 1) Montana 2) Alaska 3) Maryland 4) Vermont 5) New Hampshire 6) North Dakota 7) Wyoming 8) Minnesota and 9) Oregon.