What makes Mass. the safest state in the nation? Pretty much everything.
The Commonwealth is doing a lot of things right to keep residents safe according to a new study.
Personal finance site WalletHub has named Massachusetts as the safest place to live. WalletHub evaluates each state’s safety by looking at 20 key metrics in five categories, including residents’ financial health, road safety, working conditions, natural disasters, and home and community safety.
2015 is the second year in a row the Commonwealth has earned top honors for safety from WalletHub.
“Massachusetts achieved this rank by maintaining a high ranking when it comes to Road Safety, Workplace Safety, and Home and Community Safety,’’ said WalletHub spokesperson Jill Gonzalez. “There’s a direct correlation between more taxpayers’ dollars being well-spent between law enforcement and government maintenance systems there, and it’s reflected in the safety rankings.’’
In other words, the “Taxachusetts’’ rap that has haunted the Bay State may not be such an insult, after all. (It may also be inaccurate, as Wallethub found Massachusetts residents face only a slightly above average state tax burden.)
WalletHub’s home and community safety ranking carried the most weight in determining each state’s final score. This category looked at the number of police and law enforcement employees per 100,000 residents, the number of violent crimes – including murders, rapes, and assaults – per 100,000 residents, and even bullying incidents.
Check out the scores that put Massachusetts on top.
Home and Community Safety (3)
This category covers nine metrics and therefore carries more weight than the other categories. Massachusetts performed well in this section, with the ninth-lowest rate of murders and non-negligent manslaughters per 100,000 residents. Massachusetts also had the ninth-lowest number of sex offenders per 100,000 residents.
In terms of the ratio of police and law enforcement employees per 100,000 residents, Massachusetts was only slightly better than average. WalletHub also considered mental health. According to the company’s findings, Massachusetts has the third-lowest suicide rate in the country.
Massachusetts also had the fifth-lowest rate of bullying incidents, after Mississippi, New Mexico, Florida, and D.C. Massachusetts passed anti-bullying laws in 2010, requiring prevention training for school faculty and for serious incidents to be reported to police.
On the national level, Congresswoman Katherine Clark (D-Massachusetts) has pushed a bill through the House of Representatives that would allow the Justice Department to investigate threats and harassments made online.
Meanwhile, these 15 Massachusetts communities were recently recognized as among the safest in the country for their low crime rates.
Financial Safety (16)
WalletHub’s financial safety metric looked at each state’s unemployment and foreclosure rates. Massachusetts’ unemployment rate was slightly better than average with 5.8 percent of the population out of work in 2014 (based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics). Massachusetts was a little below average with 1.3 percent of properties in foreclosure.
But Massachusetts stands apart from other states with the highest rate of residents covered by health insurance. Not too surprising, considering the state has led the charge on making healthcare more widely available since the passage of the Massachusetts healthcare reform law in 2006.
Natural Disasters (8)
In light of the ferocious winter that battered the New England region this past year, this one may come as a surprise. But Massachusetts had the eighth-lowest number of climate disasters that caused over $1 billion in damage in the past decade.
Workplace Safety (6)
Massachusetts also performs pretty well in terms of workplace safety. The Commonwealth has the second-lowest rate of fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 employees.
Road Safety (1)
WalletHub placed Massachusetts as the first in the nation with the second-fewest fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles of travel, beaten only by the District of Columbia. Massachusetts also had the fifth-lowest level of intoxicated drivers per 100,000 residents.
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