Why is Illinois so Low on the list of Patriotic States?

A new list of the Most Patriotic States in the US has been released and Illinois isn't anywhere near the top of the list, why? Here are the details...

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WalletHub has released a new list called 2023's Most Patriotic States in America, and for some reason, the Land of Lincoln is ranked 30th on the list...Illinois is ranked lower than states like Alaska ranked 3rd, Oregon ranked 7th, Delaware ranked 15th, and Missouri ranked 21st (also wild to me that Missouri is so low on this list). How did they decide to rank a state's patriotism? On the site, they say...

"WalletHub compared the states across 13 key indicators of patriotism. Our data set ranges from the state’s military enlistees and veterans to the share of adults who voted in the 2020 presidential election to AmeriCorps volunteers per capita."

Illinois ranks 30th mainly because it finished a poor 39th in the Military Engagement ranking, that ranking is comprised of things like average military enlistees, veterans, active duty personnel, and people in your state in the reserves. Illinois does rank 19th in the Civic Engagement category which is comprised of people who voted in the 2020 election, Peace Corps volunteers, and other things. Overall, by WalletHub's calculations they say Blue States aka Liberal or Democratic States are more patriotic than Red/Republican/Conservative States, so take that for what you will.

Personally, I think this is a completely impossible thing to quantify and rank, I applaud WalletHub for attempting to quantify a state's "Patriotism" but overall it just feels like it's impossible to do. If you want to see the full rankings from WalletHub click here!