Creative or Neurotic: What's Your State's Personality?
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Researchers have created a map of regional personalities in the United States, revealing three new "regions," consisting of the friendly and conventional South and Midwest, the creative and relaxed East and West Coasts, and the temperamental, uninhibited Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.
The study, published online Oct. 14 in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, relies on the Big Five personality traits: openness to experience, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism.
Here's a look at the breakdown by state with their T scores on each personality trait. A T score is a standardized way of measuring a trait; in this case, 50 represents the "average" level of any given trait. A score higher than 50 represents an above-average level of that trait, and a score lower indicates a lower-than-average level.
Article continues below*(E – Extroversion, A – Agreeableness, C – Conscientiousness, N – Neuroticism, O – Openness)
| STATE | *E | A | C | N | O |
| Alabama | 55.5 | 52.7 | 55.5 | 48.7 | 42.7 |
| Arizona | 50.6 | 46.6 | 58.4 | 38.1 | 54.7 |
| Arkansas | 49.9 | 52.7 | 41.0 | 56.2 | 40.3 |
| California | 51.4 | 49.0 | 43.2 | 39.1 | 65.0 |
| Colorado | 45.3 | 47.5 | 58.8 | 34.3 | 57.9 |
| Connecticut | 57.6 | 38.6 | 34.2 | 53.4 | 53.9 |
| Delaware | 47.0 | 38.8 | 36.5 | 62.4 | 42.7 |
| District of Columbia | 64.8 | 21.4 | 44.1 | 41.6 | 77.5 |
| Florida | 60.9 | 50.7 | 62.7 | 40.8 | 61.0 |
| Georgia | 63.2 | 60.0 | 68.8 | 38.0 | 56.9 |
| Idaho | 40.7 | 52.9 | 44.5 | 44.2 | 44.7 |
| Illinois | 62.5 | 48.3 | 50.9 | 51.2 | 55.2 |
| Indiana | 48.9 | 50.2 | 56.2 | 59.3 | 44.9 |
| Iowa | 62.8 | 56.6 | 52.2 | 49.1 | 33.7 |
| Kansas | 45.5 | 48.9 | 50.8 | 49.0 | 40.1 |
| Kentucky | 53.4 | 48.1 | 51.3 | 62.5 | 43.0 |
| Louisiana | 52.2 | 49.7 | 45.0 | 60.4 | 53.7 |
| Maine | 44.2 | 32.8 | 24.0 | 71.0 | 50.8 |
| Maryland | 35.2 | 37.3 | 37.5 | 49.4 | 56.6 |
| Massachusetts | 44.4 | 40.7 | 32.2 | 63.8 | 59.6 |
| Michigan | 55.2 | 54.7 | 53.0 | 48.6 | 43.4 |
| Minnesota | 52.9 | 61.6 | 52.5 | 43.4 | 38.5 |
| Mississippi | 56.8 | 63.3 | 59.7 | 52.0 | 46.2 |
| Missouri | 62.9 | 59.3 | 60.8 | 48.3 | 45.7 |
| Montana | 33.1 | 52.3 | 56.1 | 43.0 | 55.0 |
| Nebraska | 60.0 | 62.9 | 64.3 | 41.6 | 34.3 |
| Nevada | 46.4 | 31.8 | 55.8 | 44.0 | 61.3 |
| New Hampshire | 40.2 | 53.5 | 38.0 | 61.8 | 48.7 |
| New Jersey | 59.9 | 44.6 | 40.8 | 56.4 | 57.6 |
| New Mexico | 32.4 | 45.4 | 58.5 | 51.6 | 62.0 |
| New York | 47.0 | 29.8 | 37.7 | 62.7 | 64.5 |
| N. Carolina | 51.0 | 63.6 | 68.4 | 44.8 | 49.6 |
| N. Dakota | 52.4 | 52.4 | 51.4 | 49.6 | 21.8 |
| Ohio | 54.6 | 45.9 | 46.5 | 58.5 | 46.0 |
| Oklahoma | 39.7 | 54.3 | 54.7 | 52.1 | 42.2 |
| Oregon | 30.9 | 59.1 | 45.8 | 39.5 | 58.8 |
| Pennsylvania | 54.6 | 42.8 | 52.4 | 61.4 | 49.6 |
| Rhode Island | 43.3 | 35.2 | 48.5 | 61.9 | 59.4 |
| S. Carolina | 60.0 | 55.4 | 69.6 | 45.7 | 55.3 |
| S. Dakota | 58.7 | 56.7 | 55.8 | 36.1 | 41.9 |
| Tennessee | 51.3 | 66.6 | 62.0 | 49.0 | 50.1 |
| Texas | 55.2 | 52.3 | 54.4 | 44.3 | 52.7 |
| Utah | 55.8 | 69.4 | 54.5 | 30.4 | 47.7 |
| Vermont | 26.5 | 60.0 | 38.2 | 55.8 | 54.2 |
| Virginia | 48.5 | 47.4 | 45.3 | 44.7 | 57.1 |
| Washington | 30.6 | 55.8 | 45.0 | 36.9 | 56.6 |
| W. Virginia | 38.5 | 51.8 | 42.6 | 79.2 | 36.8 |
| Wisconsin | 69.8 | 57.8 | 47.6 | 48.6 | 35.7 |
| Wyoming | 46.0 | 40.7 | 42.4 | 46.1 | 42.4 |
Read the full story about the new U.S. personality map.
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