New York Is Among the Top 10 Most Sinful States, Study Reveals

Vices are found across the country — although according to a recent study, some states are more well-behaved than others.

WalletHub looked into 2023’s most sinful states and it turns out two states in the area are among the top 25, with one of them actually cracking the top 10.

In order to compile the list, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 47 key indicators of immoral or illicit behavior, with data ranging from violent crimes per capita to excessive drinking and more.

According to the study, New York is the 10th most sinful state overall. However, when it comes to Vanity, one of the seven categories used to compile the overall ranking, the Empire State comes in at No. 1. In the categories of Anger & Hatred and Jealousy, New York placed in the 18th and 19th spot, respectively. The state also came in the 46th position in the individual category of Excesses & Vices, and placed 48th in the Greed category, followed by the 25th and 10th spot for the Lust and Laziness categories, respectively.

Another state cracking the top 25 in the WalletHub ranking is New Jersey. Coming in as the 21st most sinful state overall, the Garden State’s ranking was due to how it fared in the seven individual categories: Anger & Hatred (No. 45), Jealousy (No. 31), Greed (No. 8), Lust (No. 29), Vanity (No. 5) and Laziness (No. 30). However, it was the state with the least amount of excesses and vices, placing last (No. 50) in that particular category.

How about Connecticut? Turns out that this local state is among the least sinful, coming in as the top 5 least sinful states in the country overall.

When it comes to individual metrics, which were also used to compile the ranking, the tri-state area also makes an appearance. For example, when it comes to violent crimes per capita, which measured both anger and hate, both New Jersey and Connecticut are among the states with the fewest of these crimes — with the Garden State coming in at No. 46 and Connecticut coming right behind at No. 47.

New Jersey also placed among the top 5 states with the fewest thefts per capita — a metric that measured jealousy.

However, when it comes to gambling disorders, New Jersey is in the top 3, while Connecticut is towards the bottom of the list, becoming the state with the third least amount of gambling disorders among its population.

Connecticut also is among the states with the lowest amount of average time spent on adult entertainment sites — a metric that measured lust.

When it comes to the vanity metric, Wallethub used the number of beauty salons per capita, where New York placed No. 1 and New Jersey came in at No. 5 as having the most beauty salons.

So what state is the most sinful? It comes as no surprise that the state that is home to “Sin City” took the prize. Nevada beat out all the other states as the most sinful.

What about the least sinful? That honor goes to the state of Wyoming.

To see the complete ranking, or learn more about the methodology used to compile the list, click here.