Wallethub names Louisiana as 5th most sinful state in America
(Wallethub) -- Wallethub.com has named Louisiana as the nation's fifth-most sinful state in their recent study of aspects like greed, vice, jealousy, laziness, and other metrics.
"Some states are more well-behaved than others," stated the website. "In order to determine the states that most give in to their desires, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 47 key indicators of immoral or illicit behavior. Our data set ranges from violent crimes per capita to excessive drinking to the share of the population with gambling disorders."
Louisiana scored worst in the nation under Wallethub's "excesses and vices" category, while also placing fourth in the nation under "anger and hatred."
Overall, Louisiana came in fifth behind Nevada, California, Texas and Florida.
The "sinful" behaviors have an economic cost in addition to any crimes they may lead to. For instance, Georgia State University noted that the estimated annual cost of pathological and problem gambling in the U.S. is around $5 billion. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts the costs of cigarette smoking at around $300 million annually.
The following states topped the following categories in Wallethub's study:
- Anger and Hatred: Arkansas.
- Jealousy: Nevada.
- Excesses and Vices: Louisiana
- Greed: Nevada.
- Lust: Texas.
- Vanity: New York.
- Laziness: West Virginia.