SALT LAKE CITY — Just in time for the Fourth of July, the website WalletHub has declared Utah the fourth most patriotic state in the nation.
New Hampshire is No. 1, followed by Wyoming and Vermont. Then comes Utah, followed by a top 10 that includes Idaho, Wisconsin, Alaska, South Carolina, Missouri and Minnesota.
Least patriotic is New Jersey at No. 50, just ahead of New York and California. (You can see all the rankings at wallethub.com.)
True, Utah finished one place out of the medals — but ahead of 46 other states.
It should come as no surprise that New Hampshire, a state that puts “Live Free or Die” on its license plates, would rate as most patriotic, although according to WalletHub its rankings aren’t based on license plate mottos, or football teams, or whether they vote Democratic or Republican, for that matter. Rather, they are based on objective measures from two categories: military engagement and civic engagement.
States get points for how many of its citizens are either in or have been in the armed forces, as well as how many voted in the most recent elections, how many participate in volunteer service, how many serve on juries, how many belong to civic organizations, and so on and so forth.
Under this formula, New Hampshire finished with a score of 63.08, Wyoming with 62.67, Vermont with 62.25, Utah with 62.12 and Idaho with 61.62. New Jersey scored 21.55, just in back of New York at 21.63 and California at 23.92.
Utah would have easily ranked first overall if not for placing No. 46 in the category of fewest veterans per capita. Only Massachusetts, California, New Jersey and New York ranked lower.
Utah led the country in the category of highest volunteer rate, ahead of Minnesota, Oregon, Iowa and Alaska.
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As further proof that websites have plenty of time on their hands, Insurify.com handed out its 2019 Most Patriotic Cities awards.
Every year, Insurify, an auto insurance quotes comparison website, surveys its database to determine which city in each state has the highest share of military personnel.
In Utah that city is Brigham City.
If every place in Utah had as many soldiers as Brigham City, we’d easily have won WalletHub’s Most Patriotic.
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Yet another online source, again in anticipation of America’s 243rd birthday, recognized the country’s cities and towns with the most patriotic-sounding names.
The National League of Cities (nlc.org) reported that:
- Thirty-one places nationwide have “liberty” in their names.
- Thirty-one places are named “Eagle.”
- Twelve places have “independence” in their name.
- Nine places are named “freedom.”
- Five places have “America” in their names.
- One place is named “Patriot.”
Of these 89 patriotic places, Utah has four of them. Namely:
- Liberty — located in the Ogden Valley next to Eden.
- Eagle Mountain — located in Utah County west of Utah Lake.
- Freedom‚ located 22 miles north of Manti in central Utah.
- American Fork — located at the foot of Mount Timpanogos in Utah County.
According to John W. Van Cott in onlineutah.com, one version of how Liberty got its name was because back in 1892 a cattle rancher named, appropriately, John Freeman moved there from Ogden to get away from neighbors grazing their cows on his land. “Since people seemed to be taking a lot of liberties with property, he thought Liberty was an appropriate name for the settlement,” writes Van Cott.
According to online blogger Mike Keiffer, Eagle Mountain, which was incorporated in 2001, was named by a developer, Bob Lynds, because of the eagles and hawks and other birds of prey that were prevalent in the area — at least until the developers swooped in and built all the houses.
The little unincorporated central Utah farming community of Freedom was originally named Draper back in 1870 when William L. Draper moved there with his family. But Utah already had a place named Draper, so the post office made Draper change the name. Free to choose anything else, he chose Freedom.
With a population of 25,596, American Fork, according to the National League of Cities, is the most populous place in the United States of America with “America” in its name.
Incidentally, the only place named “Patriot” in the country is Patriot, Indiana, population 195. But that held little sway in WalletHub’s Most Patriotic States rankings. Indiana finished 44th.