Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas are the three most dangerous states in the USA, the study has been completed.
Those are the findings of a new analysis from personal finance site WalletHub that looks at security across America from a variety of perspectives, including financial security and emergency preparedness.
Newsweek contacted the Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas governor's offices by email for comment on this story after hours.
Why is this important
Hacking crime has become a top priority in President Donald Trump's second administration. He attacked various cities and in August declared that Washington “has become one of the the most dangerous cities in the world.”
He authorized the use of federal troops in several US cities, including Washington and Chicago, arguing that the troops were needed to stop the violence. He is also trying to send the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, after protests outside the ICE building over the weekend, but has faced legal challenges.
WalletHub's findings, while focusing on states rather than cities, put Trump's statements about crime in context and show areas where states can improve.
What you need to know
WalletHub analyzed all 50 states and the District of Columbia using 52 key safety indicators, which they grouped into the following five categories: personal and home security, financial security, traffic safety, workplace safety and emergency preparedness. Analysts measured each state's performance in each category and indicator using a weighted scoring system that assessed the relative importance of each indicator. They then determined the average for each state on these measures.
With a score of 36.2 out of 100, with higher scores indicating higher levels of safety, Louisiana was ranked the least safe state in the United States.
Mississippi was next with a score of 36.77. Texas ranked third among the least safe states with a score of 38.14, and Florida came in fourth with a score of 38.67. The fifth most dangerous state was Arkansas, with a score of 40.16. This is consistent with the site's findings last year. which revealed similar ratings.
Conversely, WalletHub found that the safest state in the US is Vermont (score of 67.22). Massachusetts was second (66.56), New Hampshire third (65.76), and Maine came in fourth (64.69). The fifth safest state was Utah, with an overall score of 62.88.
Illinois and Oregon, two states Trump called dangerous, ranked 36th and 26th safest, respectively.
WalletHub's findings come after an August study from law firm Whitley found that Louisiana was also the most dangerous state where to live and raise a family. The personal injury law firm analyzed 26 different safety factors on topics such as violent and sexual crimes, air, water and road quality, and birth complications.
What people say
Talking to Newsweeksaid Michael S. Scott, clinical professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University.: “Safety (and its opposite, danger) manifests itself in various forms. Some forms are common to people throughout the state—for example, the risks of wildfires here in the West, or hurricanes along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts—but many forms of danger, including crime, are not distributed equally across a state or even a city: they are common to people within one area, and sometimes unique to people living in a particular household. That is, most risks and safety features are specific to a relatively small geographic area.”
Scott emphasized the impact that specific policies adopted by individual states can have, such as stricter gun control laws that reduce gun homicides and suicides, and well-funded mental health services that reduce the risks of untreated mental illness. .
Another measure he noted was that adequate funding for transportation departments leads to better road design, thereby reducing deaths and injuries from crashes. In April, the Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released preliminary estimates of traffic fatalities in 2024. About 40,000 people are projected to die in traffic accidents in the United States.
“There are more policy areas like this, but what's more important is that security is very much a product of sound policies at all levels of government,” Scott said.
Chip Lupo, an analyst at WalletHub, said:: “America's safest states protect their residents from harm in a variety of ways, from keeping crime rates low and maintaining safe roads to strong economies and job markets that prevent people from falling into dangerous financial situations.
“They also have a high level of job safety and disaster preparedness. In addition, states become safer because of the efforts individual residents make, such as forming neighborhood watches or working in high-paying fire and ambulance services.”
What happens next
Security levels across states will likely vary over the months and years.
Meanwhile, Trump said Monday he would consider using the Insurrection Act, an 1807 law, to deploy the military after a federal judge blocked him from sending National Guard troops to Portland on Sunday.
