Missouri and Kansas rank in bottom quarter of states on safety, new study says

Missouri and Kansas ranked in the bottom quarter of states for safety in the U.S., according to a study released Monday by WalletHub.

The organization compared all 50 states across 52 metrics to determine which states ranked highest in terms of personal and residential, financial, road and workplace safety and emergency preparedness.

Combining those metrics, the survey ranked Missouri at 41 and Kansas at 37 in overall safety.

Kansas also landed in the bottom five states in terms of emergency preparedness, but ranked 16th in financial and road safety.

Missouri ranked 31 in terms of personal and residential safety, the category that takes various crime rates per capita and law enforcement numbers into consideration.

So far this year, there have been 154 homicides in Kansas City, according to data tracked by The Star, which includes fatal police shootings.

The count is outpacing 2022 numbers, which ranked as the city’s second deadliest year on record. At this time last year, there had been 145 homicides in Kansas City. In 2020, Kansas City had the most homicides recorded in a year, with 182 killings total and 160 by Oct. 24.

Other factors researchers considered in the Wallethub study include each state’s number of mass shootings, suicide rate, unemployment rate, road quality, fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 full-time employees and climate disasters causing more than $1 billion in damages.

Among the safest states overall, according to the study, were Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Utah and Massachusetts. Those ranked lowest included Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas and Florida.