Safest States in America (2026): All 50 States Ranked by FBI Crime Data

Maine is the safest state in America. It reported 100.1 violent crimes per 100,000 people in 2024, the lowest rate in the country and about one-quarter of the national rate of 359.1. The four safest states are all in New England: Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

This ranking uses reported violent crime straight from the FBI, so it differs from the composite “safety score” lists published by sites like WalletHub and US News, which blend crime with finances, road safety, and jobs. We explain that gap below, then rank all 50 states plus the District of Columbia on one clean, primary-source number: violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2024.

Key Takeaways

• Maine is the safest state, with the nation’s lowest violent crime rate at 100.1 per 100,000 people. It is the only state under 110.
• The four safest states are all in New England. New Hampshire has the lowest murder rate in the country at 1.0 per 100,000, five times lower than the national average.
• Alaska and New Mexico are the least safe states, both above 700 violent crimes per 100,000, roughly seven times Maine’s rate. The District of Columbia is higher still, but it is a federal district, not a state.
• “Safest” depends on how you measure it. A pure FBI crime ranking puts Maine and New Hampshire on top. Composite “safety scores” that fold in money, roads, and jobs put Vermont and Massachusetts first. This guide ranks reported crime only.
• Violent crime fell nationwide in 2024, down 4.5% year over year to the lowest rate since 1969. Murder dropped 14.9%.

The Safest States in America, Ranked (2024)

This ranking covers all 50 states, ordered from safest to least safe by violent crime rate, using FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data for 2024. Every figure is per 100,000 residents. The national average and the District of Columbia appear as reference rows, since DC is a federal district rather than a state.

*Mississippi and Kentucky rank lower than their true risk. Both post above-average murder rates but incomplete violent-crime totals, a sign of gaps in local agency reporting. The methodology section explains why.

How We Ranked the Safest States (Methodology and Limitations)

We ranked every state by one number: reported violent crimes per 100,000 people, from the FBI’s 2024 Uniform Crime Reporting program. Violent crime covers murder and non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. We chose a single, transparent metric because it is reproducible. Anyone can pull the same FBI numbers and rebuild this list.

We rank crime, not a composite “safety score.” Lists from WalletHub and US News blend dozens of factors into one grade. WalletHub scores states on 52 indicators across five categories, including financial safety, road safety, workplace safety, and emergency preparedness. Those lists answer “where is life most stable overall,” not “where is violent crime lowest.” The two questions produce different answers. Composite lists put Vermont and Massachusetts at the top. On pure reported crime, Maine and New Hampshire lead, and Massachusetts sits at 25th despite ranking near the top of most composite scores.

Reporting coverage is uneven, and it changes the ranking. The FBI’s 2024 program collected data from agencies covering 95.6% of the US population, but participation is not equal in every state. Mississippi and Kentucky are the clearest examples. Both report low total violent crime yet post murder rates well above the national average of 5.0 per 100,000, at 7.4 and 6.1. A state does not usually combine a high murder rate with very low overall violent crime. The likelier explanation is that not every local agency reported its assault, robbery, and rape counts. Mississippi is still expanding agency participation, and its reported total will climb as more departments submit data. We flagged both states in the table rather than present their ranks as settled.

State averages hide city-level swings. A single high-crime metro can pull a state’s average up while most of the state stays far safer, and a mostly rural state can carry a high per-person rate. State rank is a starting point, not the safety level of any one neighborhood. For a closer look at how much variation sits inside a single state, see our breakdown of the most dangerous city in America. Analysts also note that raw state comparisons shift once you adjust for population size, age, and income, so different methods reach different conclusions.

The District of Columbia is a federal district, not a state. DC reported 1,005.5 violent crimes per 100,000 in 2024, higher than any state. We list it separately so it does not distort the state ranking or get counted as the “least safe state.”

The 10 Safest States in America

The 10 safest states by violent crime rate in 2024 cluster in New England and the northern tier. Each note below pairs the headline FBI rate with the number that sets the state apart.

1. Maine, 100.1 per 100,000. Maine is the safest state in America and the only one under 110. Its rates are low across every category, including just 11.0 robberies per 100,000, and it sits at roughly a quarter of the national violent crime rate.
2. New Hampshire, 110.1 per 100,000. New Hampshire has the lowest murder rate in the country at 1.0 per 100,000, five times below the national average. Its overall violent crime rate is second only to Maine.
3. Connecticut, 136.0 per 100,000. Connecticut keeps its rape rate to 17.9 per 100,000, among the lowest in the country, and holds aggravated assault to 77.6, well under half the national figure.
4. Rhode Island, 153.6 per 100,000. The smallest state by area keeps murder to 2.1 per 100,000 and aggravated assault to 99.8, the lowest assault rate outside the top three.
5. Wyoming, 203.4 per 100,000. Wyoming posts one of the lowest robbery rates in the country at 7.1 per 100,000, just behind Idaho, a pattern common to sparsely populated states. Its small population also makes year-to-year rates swing more than in larger states.
6. Mississippi, 210.5 per 100,000 (flagged). Mississippi ranks sixth on reported violent crime but posts a murder rate of 7.4 per 100,000, nearly 50% above the national average. That mismatch points to incomplete agency reporting, so treat its rank as a floor, not a true reading.
7. Kentucky, 213.1 per 100,000 (flagged). Kentucky shows the same pattern as Mississippi: a low reported total alongside an above-average murder rate of 6.1 per 100,000. Its ranking will likely fall as reporting coverage improves.
8. New Jersey, 217.7 per 100,000. New Jersey is one of the most densely populated states in the country yet holds violent crime below the national average, with a murder rate of just 2.3 per 100,000.
9. Hawaii, 217.7 per 100,000. Hawaii keeps its murder rate to 1.6 per 100,000, tied with Idaho for the second lowest behind New Hampshire. Property crime runs higher than violent crime here, a common trait in tourist-heavy states.
10. Virginia, 217.9 per 100,000. Virginia is the largest of the 10 safest states by population and still holds violent crime under the national line, with aggravated assault at 152.2 per 100,000.

Florida ranks 20th on violent crime, better than its reputation suggests. Our Florida crime rates breakdown covers why.

The Least Safe States in America

Alaska and New Mexico are the two least safe states, both reporting more than 700 violent crimes per 100,000 in 2024. The 10 highest-crime states sit mostly in the South and West. Each note below flags what drives the number.

1. Alaska, 724.1 per 100,000. Alaska has the highest violent crime rate of any state and by far the highest rape rate at 122.1 per 100,000, more than three times the national figure.
2. New Mexico, 717.1 per 100,000. New Mexico runs high in nearly every category, with a murder rate of 10.5 per 100,000 and aggravated assault at 587.5.
3. Tennessee, 592.3 per 100,000. Tennessee posts aggravated assault of 488.6 per 100,000, one of the highest in the country.
4. Arkansas, 579.4 per 100,000. Arkansas records the highest rape rate in the lower 48 at 70.0 per 100,000.
5. Louisiana, 519.8 per 100,000. Louisiana has the highest murder rate of any state at 10.8 per 100,000, more than double the national average.
6. California, 486.0 per 100,000. California’s rate is driven by robbery at 119.1 per 100,000, a metro pattern. Its murder rate of 4.5 is below the national average. Our most dangerous cities in California piece shows how concentrated that risk is.
7. Colorado, 476.3 per 100,000. Colorado combines high aggravated assault (350.5) with elevated robbery (63.0).
8. Missouri, 462.0 per 100,000. Missouri posts a murder rate of 7.8 per 100,000, well above the national line.
9. Kansas, 438.7 per 100,000. Kansas records aggravated assault of 359.9 per 100,000, its main driver.
10. South Carolina, 436.7 per 100,000. South Carolina rounds out the 10 least safe states, with aggravated assault at 357.1.

Texas ranks 34th and Michigan 40th, both in the middle of the pack. City-level data tells a sharper story than the state average in each. See our breakdowns of the most dangerous cities in Texas and crime in Detroit for how much a few metros shift a state’s number.

The District of Columbia reported 1,005.5 violent crimes per 100,000, higher than any state, along with the highest robbery rate (481.5) and murder rate (25.5) of any US jurisdiction. DC is a federal district, so it does not hold a place in the state ranking.

Regional Patterns: Where the Safest States Cluster

The safest states concentrate in New England, and the least safe cluster in the South and the far West. Four of the five safest states, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, sit in New England, the strongest regional pattern in the FBI data. Vermont ranks 11th, putting five of the six New England states in the top quarter for safety. Only Massachusetts, at 25th, sits mid-pack.

The least safe states break into two groups. A Southern band, running through Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, and South Carolina, posts the highest murder and aggravated assault rates. Two Western outliers, Alaska and New Mexico, top the overall list on a mix of high assault and, in Alaska, an unusually high rape rate.

Robbery follows population density, not region. The highest robbery rates show up in DC (481.5), Maryland (123.2), California (119.1), New York (96.1), and Illinois (90.2), all anchored by large metros. The lowest robbery rates belong to rural states: Idaho (7.0), Wyoming (7.1), and West Virginia (9.7). A state can rank poorly on total violent crime while its residents face very little robbery risk, or the reverse.

Crime Type Breakdown: Murder, Robbery, and Assault by State

The safest state changes depending on which crime you measure. New Hampshire has the lowest murder rate, Delaware the lowest rape rate, and rural states like Idaho and Wyoming the lowest robbery rates, even though Maine tops the overall ranking. A single blended grade hides these differences.

Lowest murder rates: New Hampshire (1.0 per 100,000), Idaho and Hawaii (1.6), and Massachusetts (1.8) report the fewest murders per person. The highest state murder rates are Louisiana (10.8), New Mexico (10.5), Alabama (8.7), and Tennessee (7.9). DC, a federal district, sits far above any state at 25.5.

Robbery is a metro phenomenon. Robbery concentrates in dense, urban jurisdictions and stays low in rural states. That is why California and New York, which have moderate murder rates, still post high robbery counts, while low-population states like Wyoming and Idaho barely register robbery at all.

Rape rate outliers: Alaska stands alone at 122.1 rapes per 100,000, more than three times the national rate of 37.5. Arkansas (70.0) and Oklahoma (59.7) follow. The lowest rates appear in Delaware (15.7), New Jersey (17.3), and Connecticut (17.9).

Is Crime Going Up or Down? (2024 Trend)

Violent crime fell across the country in 2024. National violent crime dropped 4.5% from 2023, reaching the lowest rate since 1969, according to the FBI’s national crime summary for 2024. Murder fell 14.9%, robbery dropped 8.9%, and aggravated assault declined 3.0%. Property crime fell 8.1%, the lowest rate since 1961.

The direction matters more than any single year. Most states came down from the crime spike of 2020 and 2021, and the safest New England states stayed flat and low throughout. The gap between the safest and least safe states remains wide, but nearly every state is trending in the same direction.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line on America’s Safest States

Maine is the safest state in America on reported violent crime, at 100.1 per 100,000 in 2024, and the four safest states all sit in New England. Alaska and New Mexico are the least safe. The answer shifts if you switch metrics: New Hampshire leads on murder, and composite “safety score” lists that blend in money and roads put Vermont and Massachusetts first. Measured on crime alone, straight from FBI data, the northern tier wins, and violent crime is falling nationwide.

State and city crime data is also one of the first inputs organizations use when they plan physical security for a location. A facilities team weighing a new site, or a security director standardizing protection across a portfolio, starts with the local risk picture, then decides what cameras, access control, and alarms the site needs. For organizations that operate across state lines, the harder problem is consistency: a retailer with stores in Maine and New Mexico, or a public agency with buildings in several cities, needs the same standard everywhere, not a different vendor in each market. At Safe and Sound Security, we design and install commercial security systems nationwide for businesses and for government and education organizations, with more than 20,000 locations protected and 19+ years in the field. That single-provider reach keeps multi-site security rollouts and government security systems consistent from one location to the next. If you are planning security across one site or fifty, contact our team to talk it through.

Sources

1. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, Crime Data Explorer
2. FBI, UCR Summary of Reported Crimes in the Nation
3. WalletHub, Safest States in America
4. USAFacts, Crime in Mississippi