To protect and serve, that is the mission of the members who work in the field of Law Enforcement. It could be enforcing existing ordinances and laws, going to a local elementary school to see the students, responding to the scene of an accident, or assisting an elderly person with their groceries. They don't have 'normal' days. But for members of the Law Enforcement profession, they find that our neighbor to the West is the best state to be in. North Dakota was the top state to be a cop in according to a wallethub.com study. But Minnesota is no slouch when it comes to being a cop-friendly state either, we ranked #4 on the list!

The study looked at data the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions: 1) Opportunity & Competition, 2) Job Hazards & Protections and 3) Quality of Life. It also factored in things like median income for law-enforcement officers and also things like police deaths per 1,000 officers to state and local police-protection expenses per capita. Here are the top-10 cop-friendly states according to wallethub.com:

Overall Rank
(1=Best)
StateTotal Score‘Opportunity & Competition’ Rank‘Job Hazards & Protections’ Rank‘Quality of Life’ Rank
1North Dakota62.99951
2New York59.9321512
3Connecticut58.483718
4Minnesota57.8913327
5California56.873632
6Washington56.845433
7Illinois56.2772010
8Texas55.0582119
9Maryland53.7112297
10Maine52.9148215

Here is how Minnesota stacked up in some other Law Enforcement categories:

Life & Work for Law Enforcement in Minnesota (1=Best; 25=Avg.)

  • 15th – Median Income for Law-Enforcement Officers (Adjusted for Cost of Living)
  • 16th – Median Income Growth for Law-Enforcement Officers
  • 9th – Violent-Crime Rate
  • 7th – % of Homicide Cases Solved
  • 16th – State & Local Police-Protection Expenses per Capita
  • 11th – Police Deaths per 1,000 Officers

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