A new study conducted by WalletHub claims that New Hampshire is one of the best states to be a police officer. In fact, New Hampshire cracked the top 10!

According to WalletHub, New Hampshire came in as the sixth best state in the country to be a police officer in 2017! Maine is ranked ninth and Connecticut is No. 2!

Source: WalletHub

You can scroll around this nifty map to see how each state ranked. Here's the Top 10 list:

  1. North Dakota
  2. Connecticut
  3. New York
  4. Illinois
  5. Minnesota
  6. New Hampshire
  7. New Jersey
  8. Texas
  9. Maine
  10. South Dakota

Apparently North Dakota is the best state to be a police officer and Louisiana is the worst.

So, how did they determine the best and worst states to be a police officer?

WalletHub looked at three factors:

  1. Opportunity and Competition
  2. Job Hazards and Protections
  3. Quality of Life

Then they evaluated those categories using 20 'relevant metrics,' which are all weighted differently and listed below:

  • Law-Enforcement Officers per Capita: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
  • Average Starting Salary of Police Officers: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
  • Median Income for Law-Enforcement Officers: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
  • Median Income Growth for Law-Enforcement Officers (2016 vs. 2015): Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
  • Salary Growth Potential of Law-Enforcement Officers: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
  • Projected Number of Law-Enforcement Officers per Capita by 2024: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
  • Police-Misconduct Confidentiality Law: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)
    Police Body-Worn Camera Legislation: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)
  • Degree of Lethal Force Allowed for Police Use: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)
  • Police Deaths per 1,000 Officers: Quadruple Weight (~10.00 Points)
  • Persons Killed by Police per Capita: Quadruple Weight (~10.00 Points)
  • Violent-Crime Rate: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)
  • Property-Crime Rate: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)
  • Road Safety: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)
  • Share of Homicide Cases Solved: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)
  • 9-1-1 Calls Delivered to Local & Regional Answering Points per Capita: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)
  • State & Local Police-Protection Expenses per Capita: Full Weight (~4.00 Points)
  • Housing Affordability: Full Weight (~4.00 Points)
  • Family- & Singles-Friendliness: Full Weight (~4.00 Points)
  • Public Image of Law Enforcement: Double Weight (~8.00 Points)
    Note: This metric is based on an analysis of Twitter users’ posts indicating public sentiment toward law-enforcement personnel.

Here is the list of sources used by WalletHub to get their results:

 U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Projections Central State Occupational Projections, Council for Community and Economic Research, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, New York Public Radio, Urban Institute, Amnesty International USA, The Officer Down Memorial Page, Mapping Police Violence, Murder Accountability Project, The National 911 Program, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, DrugAbuse.com and WalletHub research.

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