The Geography of Collectivism-Individualism in the United States: An Updated State-Level Index

Collectivism-individualism shapes cognition, emotion, and behavior, yet within-country differences in the U.S. remain understudied and often rely on a collectivism index developed over 25 years ago. In this study, we developed an updated Collectivism Index to assess variation across states. Building on prior frameworks, we integrated diverse behavioral and demographic indicators, including family structure, marriage stability, religiosity, transportation practices, and self-employment. While overall patterns broadly aligned with historical findings, notable shifts emerged, suggesting sociocultural changes over the past two decades reshaped the relative expression of collectivism across states. At the state level, higher collectivism scores were associated with lower rates of marijuana use, binge drinking, and depression, and with greater cultural tightness, consistent with country-level findings in existing literature. These findings underscore the persistence, evolution, and psychological correlates of cultural patterns within the U.S. and provide a contemporary spatial tool for examining how regional cultural differences relate to psychological outcomes.