The good times have rolled. Today — Ash Wednesday — marks the first day of Lent, known by some as a day of repentance. According to a recent survey, Louisiana residents might have more to confess and turn away from than residents of other states — and not just because another Mardi Gras season is in the books. Even excessive coffee drinking was part of the survey.

WalletHub, a personal finance website with free consumer tools, released the results from its most sinful states study earlier this month. Louisiana was ranked third. Nevada ranked as the most sinful state and California as the second most sinful.

In order to determine the states with residents most likely to “give in to their desires” WalletHub compared 50 states across 47 key indicators of “immoral or illicit behavior,” to come up with a total score. Louisiana was at the top of the list in two categories, “Excesses & Vices” and “Jealousy.” It ranked 2nd in “Laziness,” 3rd in “Lust,” 5th in “Anger & Hatred” and 23rd in “Greed.”

What makes some states more sinful than others? That depends on how you define sin, answers Micah E. Johnson. Johnson, an assistant professor, USF Outstanding Research Achievement Award, Department of Health Law and Policy, University of South Florida. He was one of the experts interviewed by WalletHub to comment on the results of the study.

“Every state has a slice of heaven and hell,” he said.

WalletHub’s list of “sinful behaviors” parallels the “seven deadly sins” from Pope Gregory I, said WalletHub spokesperson Diana Polk. In 600 A.D., this pope compiled a list of seven biblical sins and called them deadly. The Bible does not group these seven sins together in a single verse and recognizes all sin as deadly.

WalletHub looked at 47 indicators to rank states. To determine where Louisiana stood in terms of “Excesses & Vice,” the study looked at obesity, fast food establishments per capita, adults who reported having driven after drinking too much, share of adult smokers, share of adult marijuana users, retail opioid prescriptions dispensed per 100 persons and debt to income ratio. Total sales of Mardi Gras Kingcakes was not a factor. Surprisingly, the share of adult coffee drinkers in the state was. So, coffee drinking teetotalers helped make Louisiana number one in the “Excess & Vice” category.

The “Jealousy” ranking was based on thefts, identity theft and fraud.
Nevada was the greediest state. The “greed” ranking looked at casinos per capita, gambling related arrests, charitable donations as share of income, share of population with gambling disorders and persons arrested for embezzlement per capita. It is also the laziest state, the survey says. Laziness looked at the share of adults not exercising, average hours worked, volunteerism, average daily time spent watching TV, high school graduation rate and share of disconnected youth (youth ages 16 to 25 who are neither working or in school.)

California was the lustiest state. That ranking is based on teen birth rate, Google Search interest for XXX entertainment, average time spent on adult entertainment sites and persons arrested for prostitution and commercialized vice per capita.

Arkansas is the most angry and hateful state.

The most virtuous state, according to the WalletHub study, is Wyoming, which probably comes as a surprise to those who only know the state as fans of the hit series, Yellowstone.

Polk said the data for this survey is from various reports from government and other sources, using the most recent information. Depending on the metric, the data ranges between 2016-2022, most of it being from 2020-2022. For details about the study and methodology, go to https://wallethub.com/edu/most-sinfulstates/46852.