A study published on Thursday by WalletHub compared all 50 states across 52 indicators of safety in five categories.
Texas was ranked 46 out of 50, making the state one of the most dangerous in the country, according to the study.
Minnesota took the title of most safe state, followed by Vermont in second and Maine in third. The survey says the most dangerous state to live in is Mississippi.
Some of the indicators the states were scored on include:
- Number of fatalities per 100 million vehilce miles of travel
- Number of law enforcement employees per capita
- Number of assaults per capita
- Number of incidents of bullying
- Unemployment rate
- Number of uninsured share of population
- Number of fatal occupation injuries per total workers
When measuring the number of uninsured people within the state, Texas came in dead last with the highest share of uninsured people. The Lone Star state's next-door neighbor, Louisiana, currently leads the United States in the homicide rate, averaging 12.4 per 100,000 people.
The five dimensions WalletHub used to compare the states include: personal and residential safety, financial safety, road safety, workplace safety and emergency preparedness.
The survey acknowledged that no place is immune to danger of any form, but that "some areas deal with safety issues better than others." WalletHub asked experts in this field to weigh in on the results.
The experts consulted included: Casey T. Harris, co-director of the Center for Social Research and associate professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Arkansas; Alexander Sledschlag, interim director in the School of Public Affairs and professor of Homeland Security at Pennsylvania State University Harrisburg.
