CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – With Monticello a signature property in Virginia’s celebration of America250, a new WalletHub survey placed Virginia as the most patriotic state in the nation.
Virginia includes the homes of multiple Presidents with Monticello, Montpelier, Ash Lawn, and Mount Vernon, as well as landmarks in America’s history including Jamestown, Yorktown and Williamsburg.
But the survey finds Virginia ranks 1st for active-duty military personnel per 100,000 civilian adults and 2nd in veterans per 1000 civilian adults.
“We measured patriotism across a wide range of factors, and the two key dimensions we used are military engagement and civic engagement,” WalletHub analyst Chris Lupo told Cville Right Now. “From where we evaluated with 13 relevant metrics ranging from state’s military enlistees, veterans, share of adults that voted in the 2024 Presidential election, AmeriCorps volunteers per capita, ranked [the states] 1-to-50 and Virginia comes out on top the 2nd year in a row.”
One of those other factors where Virginia tops the nation is civics education.
“In the state of Virginia, and in a handful of other states you have to pass one standalone civics course in order to graduate from high school,” Lupo said. “It’s not necessarily one incorporating social studies classes, but it has to be a standalone course in civics.”
Virginia is 3rd in the percentage of adults that voted in the 2024 Presidential election. It is also strong across volunteer categories, especially 5th in the nation for Peace Corps volunteers per capita.
“Volunteerism is more or less a sense of community pride, and it’s people just taking stock in their neighborhoods and their communities,” Lupo said. “It’s not necessarily linked to anything militarily, it can be any type of civic organization and patriotism is about pride not only in your country but in your community.”
Lupo noted when many think of patriotism these days, they look at it geopolitically in terms of red and blue states.
“Of the top five, you’re pretty much touching every region of the country, Virginia representing the South, Montana, Vermont at number-three, Colorado, then Oregon at number-five representing the Pacific Northwest. So, patriotism is about a lot more than Fourth of July barbeques and hanging American flags in front of your house,” Lupo said. “There’s a lot of other factors that go into that.”
With the Peace Corps volunteers in the top five, Lupo said the Commonwealth has solid volunteer numbers overall at 17th in volunteer hours per resident, and 22nd in overall volunteer rate.
