Which states best typify U.S.?

• Position: TRENDS - Brief article

In election years, some question the outsized influence of the early primary states. Is it fair that some campaigns never make it beyond Iowa or New Hampshire? How representative of the entire U.S. population are those states--or any state, for that matter? That's the question addressed in the recent report "Electorate Representation Index: Which States Most Closely Resemble the U.S.?"

To determine which states most closely resemble the sociodemographic anatomy of the United States, analysts with the personal finance website Wallet Hub compared statistics from each of the states with the entire U.S. in five categories--sociodemographics, economy, education, religion and public opinion. Here are a few of the results.

States That Most Resemble the U.S. Average

Overall: Illinois, Florida...