You’ll be shocked where NJ ranks in culture among all 50 states

A report just came out that for somebody like me who was born and raised in New Jersey was sort of a mic drop moment.

We’re constantly bashed by the rest of the country. We’ve been called the armpit of the United States.

I remember being a teenager, waiting outside Madison Square Garden for a concert and talking with some dude who was from Brooklyn. When I told him I was from New Jersey, he legitimately had no idea where it even was. I still remember his exact words. “Ain’t that like out west of Pennsylvania or somethin’?”

Yeah, bro, we clearly had better schools than you, too.

So when you’ve grown up with as a kid and endured as an adult the constant nonsense about how terrible life must be in New Jersey with the landfills and the smokestacks, etc., a report that just came out about where we rank for culture in America was really nice to see.

SEE ALSO: Why you won't be seeing those Redbox video rentals in NJ anymore

A data crunch from Rustic Pathways, a student travel site, ranked all 50 states when it came to culture. They factored in things like museums, historic landmarks, performance venues, etc. and how many there were per population and per square mile.

Well, wouldn’t you know New Jersey ranks sixth most cultured in the country. Not too bad when the rest of the nation seems to think we’re nothing but pollution and bowling alleys.

We stood out for our 58 National Historic Landmarks and our more than 600 galleries and museums.

Yes, because we are small geographically and sandwiched between the two major cities of New York and Philadelphia we tend to get overlooked. But we have a gripping history and clearly more culture than almost everywhere else. Who beats us? From first to fifth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland and New York. The state with the least culture is Nevada.

In fact, the only bad part of life in New Jersey is that politicians have made it too expensive to live here. If we can fix that, perhaps the jokes will cease.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

Report a correction 👈