2016’s Safest States to Live In

Happy National Safety Month! With three in 10 parents worrying about their children’s safety at school and one in six Americans naming terrorism as the most important U.S. problem, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2016’s Safest States in America.

With every new headline of a school shooting, terrorist attack or natural disaster, we can’t help but worry about our safety and of those we love. Safety, after all, is a fundamental human need. And we all require it to some degree in every setting of daily life: at home, in our classrooms, on our roads, in our places of work.

“Safety” of course takes many forms, and in order to help families find the “safest” place to lay down roots, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 25 key metrics. Our data set ranges from “number of assaults per capita” to “unemployment rate” to “estimated losses from climate disasters.”

Comparing the Safest & Least Safe

• New Hampshire has the lowest number of murders and non-negligent manslaughters per 100,000 residents, 0.90, which is 18 times lower than in the District of Columbia, where it is highest, 15.94.
• Vermont has the lowest number of thefts per 100,000 residents, 1,535, which is four times lower than in the District of Columbia, where it is highest, 5,713.
• The District of Columbia has the highest number of law-enforcement employees per 100,000 residents, 766, which is four times higher than in Washington, where it is lowest, 207.
• Minnesota has the lowest pedestrian and pedacyclist fatality rate per 100,000 residents, 0.37, which is 10 times lower than in New Mexico, where it is highest, 3.8.
• The District of Columbia has the lowest percentage of high school students who were bullied online, 7.9 percent, which is three times lower than in Maine, where it is highest, 20.6 percent.
• Massachusetts has the lowest fatal occupational injury rate per 100,000 full-time workers, 1.7, which is eight times lower than in Wyoming, where it is highest, 13.1.
• North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate, 2.7 percent, which is three times lower than in the District of Columbia, where it is highest, 6.9 percent.

Every state provides a different level of safety in each of these areas. Thus, when choosing a new place to lay down roots, we must carefully consider the types of security we most highly prioritize — and insulate our finances against life’s hazards in order to minimize their potential damage.