Personal-finance website WalletHub has released this year’s edition of its “Safest States in America” report.
In order to determine its rankings, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 53 key metrics grouped into five different categories: personal and residential safety; financial safety; road safety; workplace safety; and emergency preparedness.
A new metric that was added this year is the percentage of residents who are fully vaccinated from COVID-19, which falls under the personal and residential safety category.
Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest level of safety. You can view the full details of the report and its methodology here.
The Safest States in America
Once again, all six New England states ranked in the top 10 for safest states. This year, Vermont overtook Maine as the safest state in America. Maine is now in second place while Minnesota slips from third to fourth safest.
The top 10 safest states remain largely the same as last year, except for Iowa and Wyoming dropping out of the top 10. New entrants Washington and New Jersey come in at ninth and 10th respectively.
The safest states in America in 2021 are:
- Vermont
- Maine
- New Hampshire
- Minnesota
- Utah
- Connecticut
- Massachusetts
- Rhode Island
- Washington
- New Jersey
The Most Dangerous States in America
The trend of the Southern U.S. being ranked as the least safe area in the country continues. Louisiana is now considered the least safe sate in America, swapping places with Mississippi. Those two are followed by Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma as the least safe states in the country. Tennessee and Montana have replaced Georgia and South Carolina in the top 10 least safe states for 2021.
The most dangerous states in America in 2021 are:
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Texas
- Arkansas
- Oklahoma
- Montana
- Alabama
- Florida
- Missouri
- Tennessee
Though this data doesn’t reflect solely physical safety, integrators who install security products in residential and resimerical locations can look at the specific score of the personal and residential safety category to get an idea of what states are likely in need of better home security.
Click here to see an interactive map with the latest in safety data by state, and click here for more charts related to the data.
This article originally appeared on our sister publication Security Sales & Integration‘s website.
