The State with the Most Hate Groups

While all states have some hate group activity, this particular state trumps them all

Photo byClem OnojeghuoonUnsplash

Montana is home to the most hate groups per capita out of all 50 states, according to a new report. 

The report, released by 24/7 Wall St., used data from the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit advocacy group specializing in civil rights, to rank states based on their number of active hate groups from 2020 per million state residents. 

With 5.55 hate groups per million people, Montana came in first as the state with the most hate groups per capita with the SPLU reporting six hate groups: two ant-Muslim groups, two white nationalist groups, a skinhead group and a chapter of the Proud Boys, a group of self-described “Western chauvinists” created during the 2016 presidential election. 

The report uses population data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population and Housing Unit Estimates program for July 1, 2020. Breakdowns of each state’s population by race, ethnicity and median income come from the Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey. 

The outlet found the Western state has 5.55 hate groups per million residents, more than double the U.S. rate of 2.5 hate groups per million. 

“No other state has even 5.0 groups per million,” the outlet wrote. “Montana is one of the least diverse states in the country, with 85.8% of residents identifying as white.” 

Montana also has the third fewest number of foreign-born residents out of every state, the report added, with only 2.3 percent of the population reporting not being born in the United States. 

Tennessee, Nebraska, Arkansas and New Hampshire came in second through fifth place respectively. 

The report’s release coincides with the one-year anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters that led to the arrest of 725 people, some of whom had ties to white supremacist groups or far-right hate groups. And although the total number of hate groups has declined, there are still over 800 such groups across the country, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.