Violent crime by State

[BushyTheBeaver]

From the US Census Bureau. Stats are from 2006.



state-per/100k-rank
South*Carolina 766 1
Tennessee 760 2
Nevada 742 3
Florida 712 4
Louisiana 698 5
Alaska 688 6
Delaware 682 7
Maryland 679 8
New Mexico 643 9
Michigan 562 10
Arkansas 552 11
Missouri 546 12
Illinois 542 13
California 533 14
Texas 516 15
Arizona 501 16
Oklahoma 497 17
North*Carolina 476 18
US Average 474
Georgia 471 19
Massachusetts 447 20
Pennsylvania 439 21
New York 435 22
Alabama 425 23
Kansas 425 24
Colorado 392 25
New Jersey 352 26
Ohio 350 27
Washington 346 28
Indiana 315 29
Minnesota 312 30
Mississippi 299 31
Wisconsin 284 32
Iowa 284 33
Virginia 282 34
Nebraska 282 35
Hawaii 281 36
Connecticut 281 37
Oregon 280 38
West*Virginia 280 39
Kentucky 263 40
Montana 254 41
Idaho 247 42
Wyoming 240 43
Rhode*Island 228 44
Utah 224 45
South*Dakota 171 46
New*Hampshire 139 47
Vermont 137 48
North*Dakota 128 49
Maine 116 50

[gunnails]

Originally Posted by BushyTheBeaver

From the US Census Bureau. Stats are from 2006.



state-per/100k-rank
South*Carolina 766 1
Tennessee 760 2
Nevada 742 3
Florida 712 4
Louisiana 698 5
Alaska 688 6
Delaware 682 7
Maryland 679 8
New Mexico 643 9
Michigan 562 10
Arkansas 552 11
Missouri 546 12
Illinois 542 13
California 533 14
Texas 516 15
Arizona 501 16
Oklahoma 497 17
North*Carolina 476 18
US Average 474
Georgia 471 19
Massachusetts 447 20
Pennsylvania 439 21
New York 435 22
Alabama 425 23
Kansas 425 24
Colorado 392 25
New Jersey 352 26
Ohio 350 27
Washington 346 28
Indiana 315 29
Minnesota 312 30
Mississippi 299 31
Wisconsin 284 32
Iowa 284 33
Virginia 282 34
Nebraska 282 35
Hawaii 281 36
Connecticut 281 37
Oregon 280 38
West*Virginia 280 39
Kentucky 263 40
Montana 254 41
Idaho 247 42
Wyoming 240 43
Rhode*Island 228 44
Utah 224 45
South*Dakota 171 46
New*Hampshire 139 47
Vermont 137 48
North*Dakota 128 49
Maine 116 50

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I am not sure how to interpret this data.
I see the Dakotas near the bottom of the list and think it's population related, but there is Alaska near the top and NY and CA near the middle?

Bushy please?

[BushyTheBeaver]

Originally Posted by gunnails

=============================================

I am not sure how to interpret this data.
I see the Dakotas near the bottom of the list and think it's population related, but there is Alaska near the top and NY and CA near the middle?

Bushy please?

LOL. Me neither.

The ranking is based on incidents per 100k population, so it's based on percentages, not raw numbers.

I looked this info up for reasons unrelated to this board...a woman I know from Texas said to me, "Everyone in Texas is armed, that's why we have the lowest crime rate in the country!" Now opinions about gun control aside, I knew there was no way that any state bordering on Mexico has the lowest violent crime rate in the country. And indeed it turns out she was very wrong...Texas ranks 15th in violent crime rate.

But the reason for looking the data up aside, I thought the numbers were interesting for the very reason that they defy fast and easy interpretation. For example, whether you believe increased availability of guns increases crime or decreases it, there are numbers here to contradict either position. The closest I could come come to a generality looking at the data is that violent crime rates tend to be higher in the south than in the north. But that shouldn't come as a surprise: cold weather tends to depress certain types of crime for the simple reason that it tends to depress lots of outdoor activities. And there were some real surprises...like Alaska ranking as high in violent crime as it does (related to the high incidence of substance abuse?) or Mississippi (a dirt poor state full of racial tension) ranking relatively low.