Twin Cities 4th-most peaceful metro; Minnesota 4th-most peaceful state, study finds [GRAPHICS]

By Aaron Rupar Fri., May 25 2012 at 7:53 AM

The Twin Cities and Minnesota more broadly are bastions of peacefulness, the study finds.

It doesn't always seem like it, but Minnesota is one of the most peaceful places in America.

That's the conclusion emerging from the Institute for Economics and Peace's United States Peace Index 2012. The study looks at five factors -- the homicide rate, violent crime rate, incarceration rate, police presence, and availability of small arms -- to rank the state from most to least peaceful, and four factors -- all of the state ones minus the availability of small arms -- to rank the 61 largest metros.

Minnesota and the Twin Cities ranked fourth in each of the respective rankings, suggesting that there might be something to the whole 'Minnesota Nice' thing after all.

Here's a map prepared by Zara Matheson of the Martin Prosperity Institute (based on the data from the report) showing where the states rank from most peaceful (Maine) to least peaceful (Louisiana):

And here's a similar map depicting the metro ranks from most peaceful (Cambridge) to least (Detroit):

The Atlantic's analysis of the data reveals some interesting correlations. For instance, states and metros with high levels of violence (and hence, lack of peace) tend to have relatively high rates of both poverty and inequality. One of the strongest correlations is between lack of peace and the percentage of children living in single-parent households.

More peace correlates with more educational attainment, and metros featuring concentrations of creative jobs tend to be more peaceful. There are especially strong correlations between lack of peace at the state level and higher instances of teen pregnancy and infant mortality.

Interestingly, The Atlantic found a considerable negative correlation between state peacefulness and the share of state residents that are "very religious." In other words, perhaps counter-intuitively, the more religious a state is, the less peaceful it is.

Analysis also revealed that states won by Democrat Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election tend to be 'modestly' more peaceful than those carried by Republican John McCain.

Secular, left-leaning, well educated, relatively wealthy... these are the characteristics of America's most peaceful cities and states. And it's no coincidence that they're also characteristics of the Twin Cities and Minnesota more broadly.

Tags:

Minnesota, peace, Twin Cities

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omnipitous

So... "In other words, perhaps counter-intuitively, the more religious a state is, the less peaceful it is." That's not counter-intuitive at all! History is plump full of wars over religion. Too often religious dogma is taken as carte blanche excuse to commit all sorts of atrocities. Even the doctrine of forgiveness tells a devout, yet ethically compromised, individual you can do what you want because you'll be forgiven in the afterlife. There are extremely peaceful religions in this world but they are not the ones filling the states marked by these statistics. Buddha has no place in the bible belt.

Richard Garyson

This study is meaningless. I driver through Minneapolis, several times a week, and I always drive in the middle of the road to avoid vagrants. A friend of mine was nearly the victim of a flash mob, a while back. Bottom line, I do not feel safe in Minneapolis.

omnipitous

@Richard Garyson I'm sure your "driver"s through Minneapolis avoiding the dreaded "vagrants" and the ever so common (what?!) flash mobs are very statistical. Maybe someday you'll leave your little bubble and see how much more nasty the rest of the world can be (or how beautiful for that matter) Minneapolis has its moments (remember "Murderapolis"?) but in general this is one of the safest of the big cities especially in recent years. Why don't you just stay in the suburbs where your sheltered a$$ can feel "safe".