They counted hate groups in each state. Where does California rank? How many in Fresno?

California ranks No. 1 in the nation with 79 active hate groups, including two in the Fresno area, according to a new report released by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups and extremists in the U.S.

The Southern Poverty Law Center report includes a detailed map of the 917 hate groups actively operating across the United States. Florida ranks second among states, with 63 active hate groups. New York has 47 and Virginia 42.

In the Fresno area, the report cited two active hate groups: the white nationalist American Vanguard and the Holy Nation of Odin.

As reported in the Miami Herald, the Southern Poverty Law Center report comes after 32-year-old Heather Heyer was killed in Charlottesville, Va., during a rally organized by white supremacist groups, who took to the streets carrying Nazi and Confederate flags, chanting “Heil Hitler’ and, in some cases, were armed with semi-automatic rifles.

On Saturday, James Alex Fields Jr., 20, of Ohio rammed his Dodge Challenger into a crowd of activists protesting the Nazi sympathizers at the Charlottesville rally, killing Heyer and injuring at least 35 others, police said. Fields has ties to neo-Nazi groups.

The rally was held to protest the city’s plan to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee, the Confederacy’s top general. The activists protested the actions of the white nationalists.

On Sunday in Sacramento, several hundred people gathered in downtown Sacramento for a rally that mixed messages of solidarity, hope and anger about the Charlottesville violence. More than 500 people, including Mayor Darrell Steinberg and city council members, gathered at Sacramento City Hall and marched to the steps of the state Capitol.

This story was originally published August 15, 2017 at 12:26 PM with the headline "They counted hate groups in each state. Where does California rank? How many in Fresno?."