“Small-mindedness”? Wow. That’s… what’s a good word for “glibly and pointlessly offensive”? Wisconsin and Oregon appear to be as “small-minded” as the Carolinas — or are they just farther from, I don’t know, the border with Newfoundland?

You’ll notice I listed three possible plausible explanations… all of which I think factor in.

I was being inclusive, not comprehensive – I’m sure there are other additional reasons as well. What, you think small-mindedness is not a factor in people not traveling abroad? There are people I know who never leave the state they were born in, let alone leave the country. For a country that prides itself on exploration and knowledge, we are still largely a bunch of homebodies.

The more important question, in my mind, is why does Jersey leads the country?

Or maybe it’s because nobody wants to stay in Jersey longer than necessary

And the states with the lowest passport rates are probably among the leaders in the “US is the best country in the world” proclamation.

I think the NJ statistic is a culmination of loads of factors. Firstly, the state has always been known for a knowledge economy, exporting talent over state lines to NYC (and secondarily to Phila). This allows most Jerseyites to cash-in on the relative ‘currency exchange’ or economies of scale— higher pay and less goods and RE costs equal more disposable income. Additionally, NJ has had a large industrials and pharmaceuticals industry since forever, which is part of what’s contributed to NJ’s bad smelling rep (predominantly untrue, except Elizabeth).. So both those workers, many of whom are salesman, plus the Metropolis workers, must travel for work. Another factor is that NJ sits in close proximity to loads of international airports making travel more readily accessible. Which has also lead to huge swaths of immigrant populations in different parts of Jersey, particularly central NJ (eg. Indian, DR, Mexican), they may not be natural born, but many of them have gotten citizenship, and thus. American passports.

As an American who lived abroad for nearly 10 years, I find such sweeping generalizations about culture unpleasant. I had a friend in France who had never even left the valley we lived in until he was into his 40s. This wasn’t uncommon in the Alps. Ease and cost are, as you point out, factors, but so is simple lack of wanderlust.

Having myself travelled about 40 states, to dozens of countries, (and lived in 3), I cannot say that in my experience, humanity, at core really that different from place to place. We are able capable of good and bad, love and hate, greed and selflessness.

Some places are better to live than others, but they all have limitations and wonderful elements. You will also find interesting, engaging souls everywhere (even the dreaded Red States). I learned that a few years ago when I found out one of the sweetest, most honest and charming clients I had thought Rush Limbaugh was the Word of Truth. You will also find awful people everywhere, even exotic locals like Paris and Jakarta.

For this reason, I would love to see less nation-bashing (including one’s own), and more focus on finding the good in cultures (even one’s one). Though perhaps I’m idealistic.

Interesting choice of colors. Are you implicitly trying to make a connection w/ the republican vs democratic breakdown in the US? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_states_and_blue_states Holders of passports seems correlated to some degree with being a democrat at first glance, although your choice of thresholds for coloring in this chart is important in seeing that stand out.