Louisiana Ranked Second Most Dangerous State in New National Study
If the recent findings are true, it appears that if you are going to live in Louisiana, you better be tough.
The research piece assembled by WalletHub indicates that only Mississippi is a more dangerous place to live than right here in the Bayou State.
How Did WalletHub Determine Louisiana To Be Second Most Dangerous State?
Researchers at WalletHub used five key dimensions to determine the safety level in all fifty states.
- Personal & Residential Safety
- Financial Safety
- Road Safety
- Workplace Safety
- Emergency Preparedness.
Using 52 relevant metrics within those key dimensions, WalletHub determined each state’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score.
What Were The Top Five Safest States According To WalletHub?
Chip Lupo, analyst for WalletHub wrote that, "The safest states in America protect their residents from harm in a multitude of different ways, from keeping crime rates low and maintaining safe roadways to having strong economies and job markets that prevent people from falling into dangerous financial situations. They have high levels of occupational safety and disaster preparedness, too. In addition, states are made safer by efforts that individual residents take, such as forming a neighborhood watch or working in firefighting and EMT jobs at high rates.”
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In their research, WalletHub determined these to be America's five safest states.
- Vermont
- Massachusetts
- Maine
- New Hampshire
- Connecticut
What Did WalletHub Determine To Be America's Five Most Dangerous States?
When the dust settled from all of WalletHub's calculations, it was determined that only Mississippi was considered more dangerous than Louisiana.
Sadly, another three of the top five most dangerous states are right here in our region.
- Mississippi
- Louisiana
- Texas
- Florida
- Arkansas
Considering a number of specific variables, Louisiana was determined to have the third most assaults per capita. We were tied for dead last in total loss amount from climate disasters, and our overall financial safety was the second worst in America. With all things considered, things don't look good for Louisiana residents.
This might leave you to wonder if anything can be done to better Louisiana's "safety concerns." According to Daniel E. Goldberg, one of the experts polled by WalletHub, there are a number of things that will increase safety:
- Increase police activity, work with the police to encourage their cooperation in community organizations, enforce existing laws, have tougher penalties for criminal offenses (especially repeat offenders).
- Make tougher laws and set up policies to ensure that they're enforced, build community organizations that work with law enforcement to have townhall meetings, and have business training programs within correctional institutions.
- The United States and its state and local governments must figure out how to get the funds to pay police and healthcare workers' better wages and attract competent individuals to enter those careers as well.