Of the safest states, calculated by the number of violent crimes per population numbers, Maine is the #1 safest state again. The most violent state is Alaska. Although this video lists the District of Columbia as #1, DC isn't a state.
The violent rating may be based on firearm deaths. In Alaska, over 60% of those are suicides. The suicide rate here, especially among young people, is horrendous. We also have very few people, so the per capita rate can be quite high.
No, he said that the figures included only violent crimes, not accidental injuries. Whether suicide by gun is included, I don't know. Maine also has a low population and a lot of guns, yet we're the number one safest state. I think we also have the oldest population, though.
Suicide is not an accidental injury. Nonetheless, I have been in all the states of the U.S. and I feel safer here than most other places. My only trip to Maine my car was broken into and ransacked while I was out hiking in a state park, and, while that is not a violent crime, I wonder what would have happened if I had returned while the thief was in my car? Lots of nice people in places I have been, including NYC and Los Angeles. I believe we do have the most workplace injuries of any states due to the dangerous nature of the work that is done here.
It would be really hard to choose and to be fair I think the large blue cities would determine the choice. In most states it's not the entire state that is so dangerous. If I had to choose between Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, NYC, New Orleans, Memphis, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland OR, I could go on and on. To be fair Denver is catching up, if not equal in some cases. Maybe California would win for having more extremely dangerous cities than any other state.
California also has some wonderful areas in the northern and eastern reaches of the state, but they are governed by the wackies on the coast.
There are probably good places to live in every state. I know that I've been surprised by some of them. I have been to most of the states, although I haven't more than passed through some of them. Of all the states, I can think of only one I wouldn't want to live in. Florida comes close, but although I have never been there, I think I'd hate living in Hawaii even more. I guess I'm not much for the warm-weather, vacationland crap. I had forgotten about Hawaii in my first post.
The worst part about Hawaii is the boring weather, even worse than South Florida. I miss wild weather here (except blizzards). We seldom have thunderstorms, and when I lived in the Bush, there were native elders who had never heard thunder. I used to love to watch thunderstorms from a secure location, but I never liked tornados.
I would least enjoy spending a long time in Hawai'i. Although I have loved living on the - (continental!) - coast, I need to wander, need to see mountain-like land, deep valleys, rough desert, tilled plains, bridges over rivers, changes of scenery, places I've never been before. Alaska intrigues me because it is so unreachable in many areas, and if one did reach those areas, there's not much to do except turn around and come back. Good times, ha.