As the U.S. continues its efforts to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and new variants, staying safe is one of Americans’ top concerns. Safety is also essential for getting the economy back on track, as the lower COVID-19 transmission and deaths are in a state, the fewer restrictions there will be and the more confidence people will have to shop in person. While the country has dropped most restrictions and the number of new COVID-19 cases has significantly dropped since the beginning of the year, increasing the percentage of people who have been vaccinated and received booster doses is still key to getting back to life as normal. The good news is that around 67% of the population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of June 21 .
Some states are already safer than others, though, based on how well they have kept the pandemic under control and how much they are vaccinating. In order to find out the safest states during the COVID-19 pandemic, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across five key metrics. Our data set includes the level of COVID-19 community transmission, the rates of positive testing, hospitalizations and death, as well as the share of the eligible population getting vaccinated.