Oklahoma Named One Of Top 10 Most Dangerous States

Oklahoma has made the top 10 list of most dangerous states. That was based on violent crime statistics from 2012, showing Oklahoma outpaced the national average in a few of those categories.

According to the FBI, violent crimes include murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. California and New York were not in the top ten, but Oklahoma ranked 10th.

"I can't believe that Oklahoma would be that bad. This is the best place to live," said Oklahoma resident Doug Burba.

Using FBI statistics, a group called 24/7 Wall St. calculated that Oklahoma was the 10th most dangerous state. In the most dramatic increase, rapes in Oklahoma went up 12.6 percent. The 1,588 reported rapes were the most in the state since 1994.

"I just can't believe it and I'm from Germany originally," said Ruth Burba.  "I feel really safe here, so it really surprises me."

Aggravated assaults grew by 3.8 percent while they increased just 1.1 percent nationally. For every 100,000 Oklahomans, there were 469 violent crimes and 3,400 property crimes.

Oklahoma resident Laci Campbell wanted to know why.

"I would like them to look into why, because if it's poverty or if it's education, we need to be addressing it, especially as parents," Campbell explained. "It's our job to keep our kids safe."

The review said Oklahoma City and Tulsa have struggled with poverty and gang issues.

24/7 Wall St. pointed to the relationship between high crime rates in low income, low education areas. Oklahoma's poverty rate is 17 percent and less than a fourth of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher, which is one of the lowest rates in the country.

Most Dangerous States:

1. Tennessee
2. Nevada
3. Alaska
4. New Mexico
5. South Carolina
6. Delaware
7. Louisiana
8. Florida
9. Maryland
10. Oklahoma

Read the entire report from 24/7 Wall Street.