Number One: Orange County, California
It seems you couldn’t swing a surfboard in Orange County, California in 2005 without hitting an active hate group. Although just about 789 square miles in size, in 2005 Orange County had eleven actively operating hate groups. Compare that to nearby Los Angeles County which had six active hate groups in the same year, but with about three-and-a-half times the population as Orange County’s. Orange County had more actively operating hate groups in 2005 than any other county in the United States, this despite the facts that in terms of land mass it takes up only one-half of one percent of California’s land, and in terms of population, it has only 1% of the nation’s population!

Number Two: South Carolina
Although you could cram most of South Carolina in Texas’ panhandle, in 2005 the Palmetto State, despite its diminutive stature, had 46 active hate groups as reported by the Southern Poverty Law Center—three more than Texas. Only one state (California) had more active hate groups. South Carolina, what happened? The number of hate groups in your state went up over 700% in seven years.

Number Three: New Jersey
According to crime statistics, the Garden State had a disturbing 775 reported hate crimes in 2005, the second highest in the nation (behind California). Although New Jersey’s population was less than 3% of the entire nation’s population, it committed over 9% of nation’s reported hate crimes in 2005—on average one hate crime every eleven-and-a-half hours, 24-7, for the entire year. Now there’s a hate-filled place to call home.