This is the 'most normal' state in the U.S., new study shows

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Just what does it mean to be "normal"?

Recently, the Washington Post used U.S. Census data to determine which U.S. state best represents "normal" America as a whole.

The study was undertaken by Lenny Bronner, the paper's political statmeister, crunching Census numbers on 30 socioeconomic factors such as race, religion, income, education, jobs, and social issues — and found that Illinois most closely resembled the U.S. average. As explained by WaPo, based on data overall, it's difficult to tell the U.S. from Illinois when looking at the data on paper.

Illinois most resembled America as a whole based on its population's racial makeup, broken down into percentages of white, Hispanic, Black, Asian, and Native American residents. The state of Connecticut ranked second behind Illinois, with a racial makeup index score of 98.7 based on Census data.

Meanwhile, Alaska and Hawaii were found to be the least similar to the U.S. in terms of race (likely due to their remoteness), ranking at 50 and 51, respectively.

Arizona was the most like the U.S. as a whole in its religious makeup, followed by the states of Pennsylvania (second) and Wisconsin (third). Coming up last in the religious diversity rankings are Utah and Alabama (51st and 50th, respectively), which are described by WaPo as "religiously homogeneous."

WaPo also ranked states based on how similar they were to the rest of the U.S. in terms of income — with Illinois again coming out on top. The income rankings were based on median income, in addition to percentages of residents with no income and/or low-high incomes. The state of Georgia placed second in this regard, followed by Arizona.

As further explained by WaPo, education "helps determine income," and thus, Illinois also ranks pretty high (fifth) nationally. The Census data used focused on the adult (age 25 and older) population of a state divided between those without a high school diploma, only a diploma, and with each tier of degree in college. Here, Georgia took the top spot, followed by Florida.

But when the scores in all 30 variables were given a weighted index value, Illinois (91) beat out Florida (90), Pennsylvania (89), Connecticut (87), and Michigan (86).

The study also compared each state to its best match, as to how it compares with others on the 30 variables, finding Illinois' best match to be New York, followed by Connecticut as second best and New Jersey as third.

More information on the study, including rankings for each state in the aforementioned categories, can be found in the Washington Post article.