What is the most culturally unique of the lower 48 states?

[jimrtex]

I think people are underestimating New Mexico’s uniqueness.  Or did they just think it wasn’t a state?

New Mexico has a unique dialect of Spanish, with remnants of 16th century Spain.  Unlike other states in the region, the large Hispanic population is nothing new—Arizona rejected joint statehood with New Mexico because NM had so many Spanish people.  In addition to being the most Hispanic state, NM has the second heighest percentage of indigenous people (behind only Alaska), and the Spanish and Native American cultures intermingled for centuries, before Anglo-Americans added to the mix.  During the 1970s, New Mexico attracted quite a few counterculture-type settlers, making the state somewhat like a more exotic Vermont or Oregon.

Plus Little Texas.