NJ ranks as one of the safer states in US, according to study

New Jersey lands in the top half of the Safest States in America rankings put out by Wallethub.com, placing 14th. The site used 53 criteria across five broad categories to rank the states.

The five categories are: Personal and Residential Safety (NJ was 9th), Financial Safety (23rd), Road Safety (28th), Workplace Safety (23rd), and Emergency Preparedness (24th). Some of the sub-categories include things like the prevalence of various crimes, drug abuse/overdoses, EMTs per capita, bullying incidence, suicide rate, foreclosure rate, average credit score, safe schools, poverty rate and existence of personal “rainy day funds”, pedestrian fatality rate, DUIs per capita, occupational injuries, and climate disasters.

New Jersey posted good scores in the “Fewest fatalities per miles driven,” “most law enforcement employees per capita,” and “fewest assaults.” According to Wallethub.com, the safest state in the US is Maine, followed by Vermont, Minnesota, Utah, and Wyoming. The least safe state is Mississippi; only slightly better are Louisiana, Florida, Arkansas, and Texas.

Our neighbors in New York are 23rd, Pennsylvania is 33rd, and Delaware is 21st.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle. Any opinions expressed are Bill Doyle's own.