Turns Out Mainers Are Some of the Most Wholesome in the Country, Which We Already Knew

Maine is a lot of things, and most of them are wonderful.

One of its best attributes is its simply tremendous citizens. I mean, who doesn't love Mainers?

We are unquestionably the best that New England (really, all of the Northeast) has to offer. Mainers are friendly, helpful, hilarious, just good old salt-of-the-earth people. So, it really shouldn’t be surprising that a new report lists us Mainers as some of the most wholesome people in the country.

How Wholesome is Maine as a State?

WalletHub, a personal finance website, recently published its annual report on the most sinful states in America. Out of the 50 states, Maine nearly finished dead last, which is exceptionally good in this report. The lower the ranking, the more wholesome the state is. Maine was ranked 46th, a simply outstanding grade for the Pine Tree State.

Maine's actual “sinful” score was just 28.41 out of 100 total points. The scoring was based on seven major categories: Anger & Hatred, Jealousy, Greed, Excess & Vices, Lust, Vanity, and Laziness. Each category was further broken down into 37 subcategories to produce the most accurate score possible.

Portland ranked extraordinarily low in nearly every category, which, again, is a very good thing. Its lowest score came in Lust, where it ranked 48th. This category included metrics like the number of adult entertainment centers and teen pregnancy rates. What a combination, WalletHub.

Its highest ranking came in the Excess & Vices category, where it finished 21st. This category includes some serious metrics like obesity rates, the number of smokers, drug addiction, and other fun stuff. Now, 21st isn't the highest number, but it certainly isn't a great look for Maine. We need to tighten it up a bit.

Fortunately, Maine did very well overall. We should all take pride in the fact that we seem to be doing a lot right in this state, especially from a moral standpoint.

As wholesome as Maine was in this report, amazingly, it did not fare the best in New England. In fact, both Vermont (47th) and New Hampshire finished even lower. I’ve got to be honest, kind of a soft look for New Hampshire. I thought living free or dying would be a little more sinful.

READ MORE: Maine's Acadia National Park Sets Visitation Record in 2025

As for the most sinful state in America? Well, that’s an easy one — Nevada, of course. I mean, it’s literally home to Las Vegas, the actual Sin City. The rest of the top five included California, Louisiana, Florida, and Texas.

As for the most wholesome state? Congrats go out to Wyoming. I mean, nobody lives there, so that helps. You can see the entire list here, including all of Maine's category rankings.