Number One: North Carolina
According to crime statistics, North Carolina had 83 reported hate crimes in 2004, which although quite high is probably a very low underestimation of the actual number of hate crimes committed in the state since only 7.2% of state and local law enforcement agencies that bothered to report hate crime data to the FBI in 2004 actually reported one. In addition, North Carolina had a whopping 37 hate groups active in 2004, according to figures released by The Southern Poverty Law Center. Shockingly, that is one active hate group for about every 240,000 North Carolinians!

Number Two: St. Louis, Missouri
The gateway to the West was full of active hate groups this year and thus it comes in at our #2 spot. St. Louis had seven active hate groups in 2004, yet law enforcement there did not seem too eager to report hate crimes to the FBI—city cops reported just 11 for the entire year. One wonders how many hate crimes really occurred in St. Louis in 2004.

Number Three: Pennsylvania
Rural, suburban, and urban areas were all afflicted with active hate groups in Pennsylvania in 2004: 32 to be exact. Skinheads, the Klan, black separatist groups, and Neo-Nazis all set up shop in the Keystone State. And while the FBI reported that in 2004 there were 857 Pennsylvania law enforcement agencies that provided hate crime data to them, only 4% actually reported that a hate crime had taken place.