Military

States with the highest rates of military enlistment

Written by:
Andrew Lisa
November 5, 2018
BPTU // Shutterstock

States with the highest rates of military enlistment

Roughly 1.35 million Americans serve in the United States Armed Forces, down from 2.24 million in 1989, according to data from the World Bank. Enlistment rates, however, are by no means uniform across the country.

Using data from the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), a defense research and analysis organization, Stacker ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia in terms of military enlistment rates. States are ranked by a representation ratio, which looks at the number of recruits as a share of a state's population of 18 to 24 year olds. A ranking of 1 is exactly neutral, implying that the state's share of recruits is equal to its share of America's population in the 18- to 24-year-old demographic. The total number of enlistees is also noted, and all data is taken from 2016 recruitment numbers. Southern, western, and southwestern states dominate the overrepresented side of the list while states in the northeast are more likely to be underrepresented.

Read on to find out how your state measures up in terms of American military enlistment.

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#51. District of Columbia

Representation ratio: 0.29 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 99

#50. North Dakota

Representation ratio: 0.53 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 203

#49. Massachusetts

Representation ratio: 0.57 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 1,913

#48. Rhode Island

Representation ratio: 0.58 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 316

#47. New York

Representation ratio: 0.65 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 6,378

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#46. Utah

Representation ratio: 0.69 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 1,051

#45. Iowa

Representation ratio: 0.7 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 996

#44. Minnesota

Representation ratio: 0.71 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 1,609

#43. New Jersey

Representation ratio: 0.71 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 2,901

#42. Vermont

Representation ratio: 0.71 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 184

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#41. Wisconsin

Representation ratio: 0.75 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 2,033

#40. Pennsylvania

Representation ratio: 0.79 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 4,924

#39. Nebraska

Representation ratio: 0.8 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 766

#38. Michigan

Representation ratio: 0.81 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 3,800

#37. Connecticut

Representation ratio: 0.83 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 1,347

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#36. Illinois

Representation ratio: 0.83 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 5,261

#35. South Dakota

Representation ratio: 0.84 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 318

#34. Kentucky

Representation ratio: 0.86 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 1,750

#33. California

Representation ratio: 0.88 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 17,729

#32. Louisiana

Representation ratio: 0.88 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 2,099

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#31. Kansas

Representation ratio: 0.9 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 1,202

#30. West Virginia

Representation ratio: 0.91 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 767

#29. Montana

Representation ratio: 0.93 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 454

#28. Mississippi

Representation ratio: 0.95 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 1,428

#27. Indiana

Representation ratio: 0.98 — underrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 2,922

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#26. Delaware

Representation ratio: 1 — equally represented
Total number of enlistees: 372

#25. Maryland

Representation ratio: 1.05 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 2,841

#24. New Hampshire

Representation ratio: 1.05 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 624

#23. Ohio

Representation ratio: 1.06 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 5,368

#22. Tennessee

Representation ratio: 1.06 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 3,239

#21. Idaho

Representation ratio: 1.08 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 876

#20. New Mexico

Representation ratio: 1.09 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 1,058

#19. Wyoming

Representation ratio: 1.09 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 278

#18. Arkansas

Representation ratio: 1.11 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 1,370

#17. Maine

Representation ratio: 1.11 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 562

#16. North Carolina

Representation ratio: 1.11 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 5,453

#15. Oklahoma

Representation ratio: 1.11 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 1,977

#14. Oregon

Representation ratio: 1.11 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 1,928

#13. Washington

Representation ratio: 1.14 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 3,347

#12. Missouri

Representation ratio: 1.17 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 2,948

#11. Texas

Representation ratio: 1.2 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 16,139

#10. Alabama

Representation ratio: 1.24 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 2,915

#9. Alaska

Representation ratio: 1.26 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 460

#8. Hawaii

Representation ratio: 1.28 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 892

#7. Colorado

Representation ratio: 1.29 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 2,774

#6. Arizona

Representation ratio: 1.31 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 3,947

#5. Nevada

Representation ratio: 1.31 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 1,614

#4. Virginia

Representation ratio: 1.37 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 4,900

#3. South Carolina

Representation ratio: 1.42 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 3,014

#2. Florida

Representation ratio: 1.43 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 11,552

#1. Georgia

Representation ratio: 1.50 — overrepresented
Total number of enlistees: 6,758

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