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WalletHub analysts have dubbed Utah and Mississippi as the states that least resemble the U.S. as a whole.

We have generally taken pride in being different than most folks, but why does WalletHub think that?

Twenty-two factors were compared to U.S. averages in five major categories. The higher the rank number the wider the variance to U.S. averages.

Sociodemographics – Mississippi ranked 37th between Texas and Iowa based on: 1) gender distribution; 2) age distribution; 3) race and ethnicity distribution; 4) household composition; 5) health insurance coverage; and 6) country of birth.

Economy – Mississippi ranked 48th between Maryland and West Virginia based on: 7) household income distribution; 8) family poverty rate; 9) wealth gap; 10) food stamps participation; 11) part-time employees compared to full-time employees; 12) unemployment rate; 13) length of average work week; and 14) employment by industry.

Education – Mississippi ranked 47th between Vermont and Massachusetts based on: 15) educational attainment and 16) school enrollment.

Religion – Mississippi ranked 49th between Alabama and Utah based on: 17) religious alignment and 18) importance of religion.

Public opinion – Mississippi ranked 41st between Oklahoma and Tennessee based on: 19) political party affiliation; 20) political ideology; 21) views on abortion; and 22) positions on more gun restrictions.

The report showed Illinois’ population 94% similar to the U.S. as a whole. Florida came next at 93.76%. Joining them in the top ten were Ohio (92.76%), Virginia (92.66%), Pennsylvania (92.28%), Michigan (91.94%), Delaware (91.38%), Minnesota (91.03%), Wisconsin (91.02%), and Arizona (90.99%).

At the other end of the spectrum were Utah at 72.85% and Mississippi at 77.32%. Joining them in the bottom ten were Alabama (80.33%), Wyoming (80.58%), Vermont (80.65%), Arkansas (80.71%), Alaska (80.74%), Idaho (81.1%), and Maine (81.2%).

WalletHub’s premise for pulling this data together was that states that more resemble the U.S. as a whole should be the ones to hold the initial presidential primaries. Notably, Iowa ranked 38th and New Hampshire ranked 43rd.

Once again we see logic and politics having little in common and our dear Mississippi still an outlier.

But hold on, movement in the Legislature, led by Speaker Jason White and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, to pass a form of Medicaid expansion to get more working people insured may make Mississippi less of an outlier.

Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Jackson.