MINNEAPOLIS — Editor's note: The video above first aired on Aug. 10, 2021.
While sinful behaviors have crept up in some places during the COVID pandemic, Minnesota is apparently not one of them. In fact, new data from personal finance website WalletHub suggests the gopher state ranks 7th among the 50 states when it comes to sitting solidly on moral high ground.
To formulate its rankings, WalletHub compared states based on seven sinful behaviors: anger and hatred, jealousy, excesses and vices, greed, lust, vanity and laziness. Researchers then analyzed those behaviors using 47 different metrics to measure a state's sinfulness. Here's where Minnesota stacked up in several of the categories.
Sinfulness of Minnesota (1=Most Sinful; 25=Avg.):
- 46th – Anger and Hatred
- 35th – Jealousy
- 49th – Excesses and Vices
- 34th – Greed
- 45th – Lust
- 18th – Vanity
- 48th – Laziness
While finishing in the bottom ten in most categories, Minnesota does have some issues with gambling, ranking second in highest share of population with a gambling disorder.
It should comes as no surprise that Nevada - home to Las Vegas, a city actually named for sin - is number one when it comes to naughty vices, with California, Texas, Florida and Louisiana rounding out the top five.
The five least sinful states are Iowa, South Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming and Idaho. Among midwestern states Wisconsin takes the sinful crowd, coming in at number 36 (due mostly to ranking first in excessive drinking).
While it may seem like a lighthearted list, WalletHub researchers say harmful behavior on the individual level can add up to staggering big picture economic costs. Gambling alone costs the U.S. about $5 billion per year, but that's small potatoes when it comes to the impact of smoking - tallied at over $300 billion per year.
Even if people want to quit their vices, it’s a difficult road even under normal circumstances... made worse by the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For more on WalletHub's sinfulness study, check out their website.
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