West Virginians are a tough, self-sufficient, independent bunch, right? We’ve been telling ourselves that for generations as it fueled our “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” approach to many things. But the reality is a bit of a slap in the face, as one study suggests we rank near the bottom for overall independence.

WalletHub’s “2023’s Most and Least Independent States” puts West Virginia at an overall 46th — 46th for financial dependency, 49th for government dependency, 45th for job market dependency, 19th for international-trade dependency and 40th for vice dependency (drinking and other substance use).

Here in the Mountain State we are dead last for the percentage of households with a rainy day or emergency fund, dead last for median household income (adjusted for cost of living), 49th for federal dependency and 46th for the percentage of households receiving public assistance and SNAP/food stamps.

Well now, that doesn’t fit our narrative, does it?

“Now, with sky-high inflation affecting people across the country, many Americans are struggling to maintain financial independence,” WalletHub reports. “Some have become at least temporarily more dependent on support from the federal government. Other people have become more dependent on personal vices, such as drinking and drugs, due to stress and depression.”

We talk so much about, as WalletHub’s financial writer put it, “our strong ability to rely upon ourselves as individuals,” that we forget to look around and notice it’s just not true.

It could be, though. What do Utah, Colorado, Florida, Washington and Virginia — the top five most independent states — have that we don’t have? Elected officials who believe they know the answer to that question had better get to work doing something about it. But so should the rest of us.

It is not just for those in Charleston to work toward expanding and diversifying our economy in a way that erases much of what such studies call “dependence.” It is up to the rest of us to want and to embrace that change. It is up to the rest of us, to live up to all our talk.