It Turns Out, Idaho is the “Least-Hated” State
Have you ever heard someone explicitly say, "I hate Idaho." Probably not. Hate is a strong word but it tends to best describe the feelings some have towards other states. New Yorkers for example seem to strongly dislike people from Boston Massachusetts. Texas exhumes so much state pride that it can be stand-offish for non-Texans. People seem to hate on California simply for being California. A website called Best Life did some research to try and find which states are actually the most disliked by both residents and rivals.
There were three main factors considered in this research. First was the percentage of the population that had recently moved out of each state. Population increase and population decrease was compared in each state to the national average of .06 percent. As most of us already know, Idaho, Boise specifically is one of the fastest growing places in the country. The population change compared to the U.S. average was 3.5 percent for Idaho.
Next, a Gallup poll measured how prideful citizens felt towards their home state. This is further defined as the percentage of people who agreed with the statement that their state is "the best or one of the best possible states to live." Idaho scored a 54% in the state pride category.
For the last consideration, 320,000 Instagram users from across the country were asked which sate they hate the most. Some states weren't hated by anyone including Idaho.
Using an algorithm to sort through all of these results, a final score on the "Hatred Index" was produced for each state. The higher the number, the more hated that state is. Idaho came out at -304 on the index making it the least-hated state. Check out the full list here.
Here are the most-hated states, according to the data:
1. New Jersey
2. Texas
3. California
4. Oklahoma
5. Florida
Here are the least hated states, according got the data:
1. Idaho
2. Utah
3. Washington
4. Nevada
5. Arizona
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