With businesses such as Marriott and Nintendo experiencing data breaches this year but the number of breaches down from 2019, the free credit-monitoring website WalletHub today released its report on 2020’s States Most Vulnerable to Identity Theft & Fraud.
To determine where Americans are most susceptible to such crimes, the site compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 14 key metrics. The data set ranges from identity-theft complaints per capita to the average loss amount due to fraud.
South Carolina ranked as the #2 worst state in American for identity theft and fraud and North Carolina ranked #14.
States With the Most Identity Theft & Fraud
Overall Rank* | State | Total Score | ‘Identity Theft’ Rank | ‘Fraud’ Rank | ‘Policy’ Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Florida | 72.33 | 1 | 8 | 32 |
2 | South Carolina | 70.43 | 2 | 15 | 16 |
3 | Delaware | 70.02 | 15 | 1 | 32 |
4 | Nevada | 67.15 | 13 | 2 | 22 |
5 | New Jersey | 65.34 | 6 | 23 | 3 |
6 | California | 65.02 | 5 | 19 | 41 |
7 | New York | 65.00 | 9 | 5 | 41 |
8 | Georgia | 63.17 | 4 | 30 | 41 |
9 | Arkansas | 60.77 | 3 | 47 | 48 |
10 | District of Columbia | 60.64 | 22 | 4 | 1 |
11 | Pennsylvania | 60.02 | 12 | 22 | 3 |
12 | Maryland | 59.15 | 11 | 16 | 37 |
13 | Utah | 58.84 | 10 | 21 | 41 |
14 | North Carolina | 58.66 | 14 | 17 | 14 |
15 | Louisiana | 57.60 | 7 | 48 | 41 |
16 | Texas | 57.57 | 8 | 44 | 41 |
17 | Nebraska | 57.42 | 21 | 13 | 3 |
18 | Mississippi | 56.76 | 16 | 26 | 3 |
19 | Alabama | 56.25 | 19 | 25 | 16 |
20 | Iowa | 53.00 | 17 | 32 | 37 |
21 | Tennessee | 52.55 | 20 | 35 | 22 |
22 | Illinois | 52.14 | 18 | 33 | 48 |
23 | Massachusetts | 51.93 | 23 | 36 | 3 |
24 | South Dakota | 51.20 | 27 | 20 | 3 |
25 | Minnesota | 50.99 | 31 | 6 | 16 |
26 | Virginia | 50.32 | 26 | 12 | 51 |
27 | Oregon | 50.13 | 44 | 3 | 37 |
28 | Missouri | 49.88 | 25 | 34 | 3 |
29 | Ohio | 48.76 | 24 | 45 | 16 |
30 | Vermont | 48.32 | 37 | 10 | 22 |
31 | Arizona | 47.40 | 28 | 18 | 48 |
32 | Colorado | 46.89 | 40 | 11 | 22 |
33 | Hawaii | 46.30 | 33 | 24 | 28 |
34 | Wisconsin | 45.60 | 35 | 28 | 14 |
35 | Washington | 45.05 | 39 | 14 | 37 |
36 | Connecticut | 44.37 | 32 | 29 | 32 |
37 | Indiana | 43.70 | 29 | 40 | 32 |
38 | Rhode Island | 43.65 | 30 | 38 | 32 |
39 | Oklahoma | 41.93 | 34 | 50 | 16 |
40 | North Dakota | 41.76 | 51 | 7 | 3 |
41 | New Hampshire | 41.55 | 49 | 9 | 16 |
42 | Montana | 41.49 | 36 | 37 | 41 |
43 | West Virginia | 40.77 | 41 | 46 | 1 |
44 | Maine | 40.52 | 47 | 27 | 3 |
45 | New Mexico | 39.06 | 43 | 39 | 22 |
46 | Alaska | 38.81 | 46 | 31 | 28 |
47 | Kentucky | 38.69 | 42 | 41 | 22 |
48 | Idaho | 37.72 | 48 | 42 | 3 |
49 | Kansas | 36.94 | 45 | 43 | 28 |
50 | Michigan | 36.62 | 38 | 51 | 28 |
51 | Wyoming | 34.73 | 50 | 49 | 3 |
*No. 1 = Most Vulnerable