Is it worth asking which state is most representative of the country as a whole?

[Bicoastal]

Iowa

New Hampshire

Nevada

Or South Carolina?

Or would that just be a waste of everyone's time?

[Tesha]

1. Which state? "Idiocy". Unless it's "Stupidity". (NT)

[Bicoastal]

2. You forget the ever-popular "Denial"

:P

[Tesha]

4. Yes, that's a real "contender for the title" as well; thanks! (NT)

[Bandit]

3. Criminal

and probably the state of Blood Lust..What we need is more guns...

[Jed Dilligan]

5. Off the top of my head, Nevada

It's been sucking population from the other 49 states for the last twenty years, so its demographics are likely much closer to the national mean than any of those other states.

[NMDemDist2]

6. Nevada would be the closest to the National Demographic over all

Nevada number is first VS USA as a whole in 2nd number

Persons 65 years old and over, percent, 2006 11.1% 12.4%
Female persons, Female persons, percent, 2006 49.2% 50.7%
White persons, White persons, percent, 2006 (a) 81.7% 80.1%
Black persons, Black persons, percent, 2006 (a) 7.9% 12.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native persons, 2006 (a) 1.4% 1.0%
Asian persons, 2006 (a) 6.0% 4.4%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, percent, 2006 (a) 0.5% 0.2%
Persons reporting two or more races, percent, 2006 2.6% 1.6%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, 2006 (b) 24.4% 14.8%


you can check out any other state here

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/index.html

[Bicoastal]

9. I would agree with you, but demographics alone wouldn't convince me.

Its economy is completely different from nearly every other state, not to mention the fact that large majority of the state is entirely empty of agriculture and industry, to say nothing of people.

Plus the very fact it HAS such a large non-native population, as someone else poined out, is a strike against Nevada being an "average" state.

[NMDemDist2]

10. actually I think having a large 'non native' pop works in favor of the argument

those 'non natives' came from all over the US right?

I know in Arizona (which has had similar growth in the past 20 years) most everyone was from 'somewhere else' and they came from all corners of the nation.

and Vegas has 2million people, that's a pretty good sized sample I'd say.

[Tesha]

7. A serious answer: There is no one state because we're not a very United set of States.

A serious answer: There is no one state that can be truly
representative because we're not a very United set of States.

My touchstone for this concept has always been Joel Garreau's
NYTimes magazine article and later book entitled The Nine
Nations of North America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Nations_of_North_America



His main thesis is that our continent can be better analyzed
when you realize that we're really nine almost-entirely-
separate areas which he chose to call:

o New England
o The Foundry
o Dixie
o The Breadbasket
o The Islands
o Mexamerica
o Ecotopia
o The Empty Quarter
o Quebec

So, for example, if I, as a New Englander were trying to find
a state that is representative of what we believe here in
New England, I'd be hard-pressed to pick any state outside
of New England. But any of our six New England states are
180 degrees away from what they believe in Dixie. The closest
we'd come is the region that Garreau (and Callenbach) calls
"Ecotopia", but that's not contiguous with any state
boundaries.

Tesha

[NRaleighLiberal]

8. The state of Depression. nt

[sutz12]

11. State of Confusion? nt