Dirty little secrets: The vice-filled reality of New Jersey exposed
Many people think that with the casinos, tough talk, and dense population, that New Jersey would rank high as the most sinful state in the country.
Well, you would be right, sort of.
WalletHub released a new study that ranked states based on virtues and vices that each state exhibits. The categories included anger and hatred, based on rates of violent crime, sex offenders, bullying and other behavior including rude drivers.
Jealousy is another category that measures theft and fraud complaints.
Excesses/Vices is a category where WalletHub measured rates of obesity, fast food establishments, adult smokers, excessive drinking marijuana users, retail opioid prescriptions, overdose deaths and debt-to-income ratio.
- The Greed category includes casinos and gambling data, along with charitable donations.
- For the Lust category collected data on teen births, prostitution arrests and adult entertainment options
- The Vanity category has data collected on plastic surgeons, hair stylists, manicurists, spas, diet centers and more.
They also have a Laziness category, which has data based on rates of volunteers, weekly hours worked, daily time spent watching TV, high school graduation rates and the number of adults not exercising.
It is no surprise that Nevada is the No. 1 most sinful state in the country. Casinos, gambling, brothels, prostitution arrests and laziness were big factors in crowning Nevada.
California came in at No. 2 as the most sinful state in the country, grabbing high marks for vanity, google searches for porn per capita, shootings, and school bullying.
Florida came in at No. 3 because of white collar crimes, identity theft, violent crimes that were fueled by anger did not help the Sunshine State get a better ranking.
Our own Garden State, New Jersey came in 15th overall as the most sinful state in the country. I was surprised by the results.
New Jersey was the 43rd worst state for anger and hatred. I assumed that the road rage incidents would push that number upwards, but it is great to see that we have mellowed over the years.
The Garden State ranked 20th in jealousy. Theft and fraud complaints were a factor.
New Jersey ranked 50th in excesses and vices. I had to check that number twice. It is true we have fewer fast-food restaurants per capita than the average; we also have a lower obesity rate. I am on a diet! So that 50th ranking is such a good ranking for our state. Let us keep it up.
When it comes to greed you can blame our New Jersey casinos for giving us a 16th ranking in the study.
When it comes to lust, New Jersey ranks 17th in the country. I am assuming that The Bada Bing on the Sopranos awakened our lust.
New Jersey ranks extremely high, 4th in the country, in vanity. You can thank the "Real Housewives of New Jersey" for having so much plastic surgery that it catapulted that ranking to number 4. I am kidding, of course, but we have our share of plastic surgeons, salons, and spas to take care of and pamper our bodies.
Finally, here is another category that I thought we would do better in. New Jersey ranks 20th in laziness. That is eleven slots up since 2022. My guess is that COVID-19 and substantial increase in working at home, shorter hours and a huge increase in home schooling were contributing factors in that ranking.
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Gallery Credit: Stacker
The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 weekend host Big Joe Henry. Any opinions expressed are Big Joe’s own.
