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By Jordan King
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Newsweek has created a map showing the most dangerous states in America, according to new research released this week.
Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas and Florida are among the most dangerous states when taking into account crime rates, the safety of roadways, economic strength and job markets, finance and research firm WalletHub has determined.
Out of America's 50 states, Louisiana came last in its list of the country's safest states, scoring a total of 33.27 out of 100.
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Louisiana was ranked 40 for personal and residential safety, 49 for financial safety, 33 for road safety, 40 for workplace safety and 49 for emergency preparedness, also out of 100 but where one represents the best conditions.
Comparatively, the safest state, Vermont, scored 67.94 in total, six for personal and residential safety, one for financial safety, four for road safety, two for workplace safety and nine for emergency preparedness.
New Mexico saw the most assaults per capita, followed by Alaska, Arkansas, Tennessee and Louisiana, while New Hampshire saw the least, before Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Hawaii.
The Deputy Chief of Staff at the Governor of Mississippi's office, Cory Custer, told Newsweek: "The state of Mississippi is committed to doing everything in its power to keep Mississippians safe. It's why Governor Reeves advocated for and ultimately signed legislation that doubled the size of Capitol Police and turned it into a true law enforcement agency.
"We've also surged law enforcement resources, in partnership with local and federal partners, to various parts of our state to get drug traffickers and violent criminals off our streets. Like every state in the nation, there will always be more work to do to enhance public safety."
Newsweek has also contacted the governors' offices for Louisiana, Texas and Florida via email for comment. It has also contacted Arkansas representatives for criminal justice via online form.
WalletHub also looked at fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles of travel, law-enforcement employees per capita, the bullying incidence rate, the unemployment rate, the share of the uninsured population, the percentage of adults with a rainy-day fund, the total loss amount from climate disasters per capita and the fatal occupational injuries per total workers.
The firm used official data from upto August 15 this year from multiple government agencies, including the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Associate Professor and Assistant Chair at Western New England University's Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology Chidike I. Okeem said in the WalletHub report: "As a criminologist, I think about safety from the perspective of crime. The first point to recognize is that violent crime, contrary to media-induced perceptions, is statistically rare.
"Additionally, understanding the fact that crime is not spread out uniformly in cities can guide personal decision-making. When choosing a place to live, one needs to avoid crime hot spots, which are microgeographic areas where crime is most prominent.
"Even though a city may have the reputation of being high crime, one does not need to steer clear of an entire city to remain safe. Simply avoiding problematic areas within a city is sufficient."
Update 10/28/24, 06:27 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include comment from the Governor of Mississippi's office and to update the format of the interactive map.
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