HOUSTON – I’m not trying to scare you with this story, but I also don’t think it’s a stretch to say we’re living in frightening times.
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With all the wild news my colleagues and I have been covering, we’re all trying to keep from biting our nails and a recent WalletHub study is confirming those fears by naming Texas one of the least safest states in the U.S.
Researchers looked at all 50 states and compared data ranging from assaults per capita to the loss amount from climate disasters. And Texas ranked 48th, making it the 3rd least safe state between Arkansas and Mississippi.
Louisiana was ranked the absolute least safest, while Vermont was named the safest.
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So how do we keep ourselves from freaking out? One criminologist shared the following advice with WalletHub:
“I think about safety from the perspective of crime,” Dr. Chidike Okeem, Associate Professor and Assistant Chair at Western New England University’s Department of Criminal Justice & Criminology said. “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.”
Check out the full report by WalletHub and how other states compared by clicking here.