South Dakota Is the Least Lonely State in America

Thanks to COVID-19 the holidays are going to feel a lot lonelier for a number of Americans this year as fewer and fewer of us will have the opportunity to gather with those closest to us in 2020 thanks to an ongoing need to socially distance during this pandemic.

But while we all hope that this is a temporary situation, those feelings of being alone have been quite prevalent in some places across the United States long before coronavirus hit.

BestLife has been charting the loneliness rates for each state using data from the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index, which measures what percentage of residents reported having at least one close social relationship, at a study conducted by the American Psychological Association, which ranks each state in five different personality categories, including ‘extraversion’, plus a Move.org report measuring the number of single residents in each state, as well as and each state’s most popular Google searches on Valentine's Day.

Only one state scored a perfect zero on BestLife’s ‘Loneliness Index’ – South Dakota, which is home to the tenth-highest percentage of singles in the U.S. (44.38 percent).

A number of factors combined for our stellar ranking.

South Dakota has the fourth-highest rate of residents with a strong social relationship (78 percent), as well as a top ten showing in extraversion (9th overall).

LEAST LONELY STATES IN AMERICA (BestLife)

South Dakota
North Dakota
Utah
Wyoming
Minnesota
Missouri
Nebraska
Tennessee
Wisconsin
Texas

The only state to max out on the ‘Loneliness Index’ with a grand total of 100 points is Rhode Island and it wasn’t even close. Second-place New York’s score was 64.20.

The Ocean State is one of seven states where more than half of its population in single.

Just 68.5 percent of Rhode Island residents had a strong social relationship in their lives, which is nearly ten percent fewer than South Dakota.

MOST LONELY STATES IN AMERICA (Best Life)