COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina may be a state steeped in history and Southern charm for many visitors, but the personal finance website WalletHub says it comes with its share of risks as well.
The organization's latest ranking has bestowed the Palmetto State with the dubious honor of ninth least-safe state in the country based on 11 different criteria.
And while several of those criteria put South Carolina more in the middle of the pack, the state is at rock bottom in three - fatal vehicle accidents, murders, and assaults. The latest study even takes COVID-19 into account for overall safety trends.
The subcategories include the percentage of residents who are fully vaccinated, murders, assaults, loss from climate disasters, job security, deadly occupational injuries, vehicle deaths, law enforcement population, bullying, sex offenders, and the uninsured population.
These, in turn, are subdivided into personal safety, financial safety, road safety, workplace safety, and emergency preparedness.
In the category of fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles of travel, South Carolina came in dead last with the WalletHub study putting the state in the 50th spot.
The next category to give South Carolina problems was the rate of murders and non-negligent manslaughters per capita. South Carolina was ranked 46th in this category.
Another violent crime for which South Carolina came out with a negative rating is for assaults per capita. The state took the 45th spot.
Of the 11 subcategories that determined the overall ranking, the most favorable rating was for sex offenders per capita for which South Carolina was ranked 28th overall. With a rank of 30th, the state also rated somewhat favorably for law-enforcement employees per capita.
However, none of the subcategories placed South Carolina in the top 25.
The safest state in the country, according to the study, is Vermont, while the least safe in Louisiana. Of all the immediate southeastern states, Tennessee (41st), Georgia (35th), Kentucky (28th), and North Carolina (21st) were all ranked as safer.
According to WalletHub's methodology, results came from several national government agencies as well as private industry records.
