Katelyn Moorman – Staff Writer
Wyoming people are nice – at least 5th nicest in the country according to a recent Big7Travel poll.
The poll, completed by their social media audience, ranked the states from most to least friendly. Wyoming was ranked number five on the list. One reason for Wyoming’s ranking could be the size of the towns in Wyoming. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the largest city in Wyoming is Cheyenne, with a population of 63,957. Connie McNamara, in an article for The Sunday Patriot, said, “Rural small towns consistently have a lower crime rate than their urban and suburban neighbors.” Lower crime rates make towns safer, which makes them more welcoming to outsiders.
Wyoming’s size could also be a factor, since it has a population density of six people for every square mile. For comparison, the average population density in the U.S. is 434.9 people per square mile. Keith Harries, in the International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences, said, “By and large, the available evidence increasingly tends to suggest that most types of crime tend to increase in levels of occurrence with increasing population density.” Wyoming’s wide-open spaces and spaced out towns contribute to its lower crime rates.
Nature in Wyoming could also be a factor. A lot of people come to Wyoming to see Yellowstone National Park, Devil’s Tower National Monument, and other nature-related attractions. According to the Wyoming Department of Tourism, visitor spending generated $195 million dollars in local and state tax revenues and $3.8 billion in direct spending in 2018. A large portion of Wyoming’s economy is dependent on tourism. Because of this, residents in Wyoming are used to tourism and thus are more friendly toward outsiders.
President Theodore Roosevelt, during his speech at the laying of the cornerstone of gateway to Yellowstone National Park in 1903, said, “But already its beauties can be seen with great comfort in a short space of time and at an astoundingly small cost, and with the sense on the part of every visitor that it is in part his property, that it is the property of Uncle Sam and therefore of all of us.”
