How Honest Is Michigan Compared to the Rest of the Country? [Infographic]

Honest Tea recently conducted a national social experiment called The National Honesty Index, and the results are in.

When faced with a choice to be honest or not, the experiment found that a resounding 95 percent of Americans were honest, up from 92 percent in 2013.

So how did Michigan compare to the rest of the country?

The test was simple, Honest Tea set up unmanned stores "selling" their product at locations around the country. People either used the honor system to pay $1 per bottle, or they took the tea and drank it for free.

On the whole the nation scored a 95 percent honesty score, and here in Michigan we hit the national average, also scoring 95 percent. Detroit hit the top 10 of large cities being scored in the test, hitting 97 percent honesty.

Highlights of the results (combines both digital and physical experiment data):

• Participants in Honolulu were 100 percent honest two years in a row.
• Honesty returns to the nation’s capital as Washington, D.C., becomes the most improved city, rising to 96 percent honesty, 16 percentage points higher than 2013.
• Minneapolis and Providence, R.I., tied for biggest dip in honesty year over year, dropping 12 percentage points to 81 percent and 80 percent, respectively.
• Participants in the online experiment (as determined by authenticating via a Facebook application) were 95 percent honest. People identifying their relationship status on Facebook as “separated” (100 percent honest) proved to be more honest than “engaged” (94 percent honest).
• Again, women proved to be more honest than men slightly edging them out 95 percent to 93 percent honest.
• For the second year in a row, blondes came out as the most honest hair color with 95 percent. People with black hair were the least honest at 91 percent.