you can't really compare sparsely populated states with denser ones. pack more people together and schit goes sideways. rats in a cage come to mind.
There was a study I read in college (I’ll try to find) using rats and population studies. They started off with a small population with adequate space/food/etc. And observed normal behavior. They kept increasing population density until it was comparable to a city. Behavior patterns followed that of humans in cities. It was an interesting read.
