Safety is a difficult concept to calculate. Many would define safety as a feeling instead of something that can be measurably demonstrated.
The safety of a particular geographic area is especially difficult to calculate. What makes a city or state safe? Is it a low rate of violent crime? Safe roadways and attentive drivers? A low incidence of natural disasters?
WalletHub, a popular personal finance website, took on the task of ranking each of the 50 states in terms of safety.
WalletHub analyzed a total of 48 metrics across five key dimensions: Personal, financial, road, workplace safety, and emergency preparedness.
Some of the 48 individual factors considered in determining each state’s rank included:
- Percentage of population without health insurance
- Number of roadway fatalities per 100 million miles traveled
- Climate disasters
- Unemployment rate
- Assaults per capita
- Law enforcement officers per capita
- Bullying incidence
How Did Texas Rank?
Overall, not too well.
Texas was ranked #47 out of 50 states.
In one of the key metrics, percentage of population without health insurance, Texas was ranked last. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 4.5 million people in Texas do not have health insurance.
What Are The Safest And Least Safe States?
The five safest states, according to WalletHub, are:
1. Vermont
2. Maine
3. Minnesota
4. Utah
5. New Hampshire
The five least safe states, according to WalletHub, are:
1. Mississippi
2. Louisiana
3. Oklahoma
4. Texas
5. Florida
What does this mean for Texas?
We know that millions of people are without health insurance in Texas. Hurricanes are a huge threat to the Texas Gulf Coast. And Texas is known to be an unsafe state to drive in.
Your Mechanic analyzed a variety of driving safety data for all 50 states, including average driver skill, average driver speed, congestion levels, and more. Texas was found to be the 5th most dangerous state to drive in, behind Montana, Louisiana, Arizona, and South Carolina.
Clearly, Texas has a long way to go in terms of safety. But not all of these factors are within an individual’s control.
In the meantime, people who live, work, and drive in our state should focus on making small, common sense changes to improve their safety and the safety of those around them.