Valentine’s Day Online Date? Minnesota is a Safe State for That

We know a woman who tried one of those online dating sites. Her date licked her hand. He meant it as a chivalrous kiss, but it was a sloppy lick. And it was uninvited. What might happen next? She excused herself to the restroom to thoroughly scrub her hands before dinner, then seized the opportunity for an early exit. It didn’t happen in Minnesota, which is one of the safest places in the country for online dating, according to a new study.

The study by the home security company SafeWise and HighSpeedInternet.com, which helps consumers make informed decisions about their internet providers, analyzed the most recent FBI violent crime and cyber crime data, along with state by state STD rates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Minnesota ranked ninth in the study.

The data led the authors to draw interesting conclusions about the dangers of online dating in certain geographic areas.

Here, according to the 10 Safest and Most Dangerous States for Online Dating, are the safest and least safe places to find companionship on the internet:

Where do other states rank? Here is a map.

More About the Methodology

The authors of the study analyzed the FBI’s cybercrime and violent crime rates per capita for each state, as well as the CDC’s reported cases of chlamydia and gonorrhea, the most common STDs in America. The data were adjusted to account for population, then correlated with various demographic information from Gallup and other sources.

Photo by Andy via Flickr Commons