Colorado ranked among least safe states in America in new study

Colorado usually does well in “best of” lists for hiking, craft beer and sunshine. WalletHub’s new safety rankings went the other way. The personal finance site’s 2026 “Safest States in America” study ranks Colorado 43 out of 50, which puts the Centennial State in the bottom 10 next to Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

WalletHub compared all 50 states on 52 measures in five categories, from assaults per capita to road quality to unemployment. Colorado did fine on money, ranking 19th in financial safety. The rest of its report card was rough: 46th in personal and residential safety, 41st in road safety and 38th in workplace safety. Anyone who has merged onto I-25 at rush hour probably isn’t surprised by the road score.

The neighbors look better. Utah ranked sixth, Wyoming 11th and Arizona 14th. Nebraska, New Mexico and Kansas all finished ahead of Colorado too. Of the states that touch Colorado, only Oklahoma ranked lower, at 45th. Vermont took the top spot, and Mississippi finished last.

Gov. Jared Polis’ office pushed back on the results. “It’s unclear why this ranking of safest to least safe states takes into account things like credit scores, college savings, and household emergency funds, which are very different things than public safety and crime,” press secretary Eric Maruyama told Business Insider. He added that Colorado is “seeing major year-over-year reductions in crime in key areas.” So take the list with a grain of salt. Buckle up on I-25 either way.