Safest States: Here's Where Virginia Ranks

RICHMOND, VA — Virginia has a proud history as the birthplace of our country's founding fathers and Revolutionary War leaders, stellar public and private universities, and is ranked among the best states for quality of life, according to U.S. News. Some less positive notable facts about Virginia: Traffic is often a nightmare and drivers are aggressive.

Despite those criticisms Virginia ranks high by the personal finance website WalletHub among the most-safe states in the country. A new study ranks Virginia at No. 19 on the list.

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"In order to determine the safest states in America, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 48 key safety indicators grouped into five different categories," the study notes. "Our data set ranges from assaults per capita to unemployment rate to total loss amounts from climate disasters per capita."

How did Virginia do? Here's a snapshot, with a rank of 1 being the safest and 25 being average:

• 25th — Presence of Terrorist Attacks
• 29th — Number of Mass Shootings
• 31st — Murders & Non-Negligent Manslaughters per Capita
• 10th — Forcible Rapes per Capita
• 5th — Assaults per Capita
• 10th — Thefts per Capita
• 29th — Sex Offenders per Capita
• 25th — Drug Abuses per Capita
• 32nd — Law-Enforcement Employees per Capita
• 23rd — Active Firefighters per Capita
• 35th — Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics per Capita

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Vermont ranked No. 1 as the safest state in the U.S., and Mississippi came in dead last. These are the five safest states, according to the study:

1. Vermont
2. Main
3. Minnesota
4. Utah
5. New Hampshire

Here's a look at entire U.S. Hover over a state to see its rank:

You can read the full study and methodology here.

Photo via Shutterstock