The Riskiest States for Holiday Travel

Between the coronavirus, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), travelers face a trio of health concerns this holiday season. Our team of analysts evaluated the latest health and safety data to find the riskiest states to travel to this holiday season.

To find the riskiest states for holiday travel, we evaluated each state based on 10 different health and safety factors. COVID-19 case rates, vaccination rates, flu activity and the number of accidents, speeding tickets and DUIs were all considered. In the end, our analysts found that North Dakota is the riskiest state for holiday travel.

Riskiest States for Holiday Travel

Overall rank	State	Health rank	Driving rank
1	North Dakota	6	6
2	Rhode Island	21	9
3	Wyoming	4	14
4	Arizona	10	8
5	South Dakota	18	31
6	Utah	31	1
7	Ohio	20	4
8	Indiana	8	15
9	Wisconsin	24	5
10	Tennessee	7	22
11	Alabama	5	28
12	Florida	12	21
13	Georgia	16	16
14	South Carolina	17	20
15	Iowa	37	3
16	Kansas	19	23
17	California	42	2
18	North Carolina	23	18
19	New Jersey	13	32
20	Mississippi	3	38
21	Nebraska	29	12
22	Missouri	22	25
23	Idaho	33	11
24	West Virginia	1	48
25	Virginia	46	7
26	Montana	26	24
27	Louisiana	9	42
28	Colorado	45	13
29	Oklahoma	15	37
30	Kentucky	2	45
31	Oregon	41	17
32	Texas	35	27
33	Minnesota	28	33
34	Nevada	32	29
35	New Mexico	25	34
36	Washington	40	26
37	Massachusetts	43	19
38	Pennsylvania	30	35
39	Michigan	14	49
40	Maryland	39	30
41	Arkansas	11	46
42	Hawaii	49	10
43	Maine	50	43
44	Illinois	34	40
45	Alaska	38	36
46	New York	36	39
47	Delaware	27	47
48	Vermont	47	41
49	New Hampshire	44	44
50	Connecticut	48	50

While the coronavirus no longer dominates new headlines, health concerns are still a factor in people’s travel plans. Flu levels are extremely high in some states, and RSV has left some hospitals packed with patients. When measured on health factors alone, we found that West Virginia, Kentucky and Mississippi are the riskiest places for holiday travel.

Overall Health Rankings

Overall rank (worst to best)	State	COVID-19 case rank	Flu activity
1	West Virginia	6	High
2	Kentucky	3	Very High
3	Mississippi	17	Very High
4	Wyoming	18	Moderate
5	Alabama	16	Very High
6	North Dakota	4	Moderate
7	Tennessee	5	Very High
8	Indiana	31	High
9	Louisiana	15	High
10	Arizona	13	Low
11	Arkansas	12	Very High
12	Florida	7	High
13	New Jersey	14	Very High
14	Michigan	30	Minimal
15	Oklahoma	21	High
16	Georgia	37	Very High
17	South Carolina	8	Very High
18	South Dakota	26	Low
19	Kansas	20	High
20	Ohio	39	High
21	Rhode Island	1	Low
22	Missouri	38	High
23	North Carolina	19	Very High
24	Wisconsin	10	Moderate
25	New Mexico	22	Very High
26	Montana	28	Low
27	Delaware	11	Moderate
28	Minnesota	27	High
29	Nebraska	35	Very High
30	Pennsylvania	42	Moderate
31	Utah	9	High
32	Nevada	34	High
33	Idaho	33	High
34	Illinois	24	High
35	Texas	36	Very High
36	New York	25	High
37	Iowa	40	Moderate
38	Alaska	2	Minimal
39	Maryland	50	High
40	Washington	46	Very High
41	Oregon	49	High
42	California	32	Very High
43	Massachusetts	23	Moderate
44	New Hampshire	41	Minimal
45	Colorado	29	Very High
46	Virginia	44	Very High
47	Vermont	47	Minimal
48	Connecticut	43	High
49	Hawaii	45	Low
50	Maine	48	Low

Airline travel has returned to pre-pandemic levels, but this holiday season, more people will be driving to their vacation destinations. After looking at each state’s number of accidents, speeding tickets and DUIs, we found that Utah, California and Iowa are the riskiest states for that long road trip.

Overall Driving Rankings

Overall rank (worst to best)	State	DUI rank	Accident rank	Speeding rank	Citation rank
1	Utah	8	5	1	2
2	California	1	3	7	13
3	Iowa	6	18	9	4
4	Ohio	15	8	4	10
5	Wisconsin	4	22	5	14
6	North Dakota	2	36	2	3
7	Virginia	11	9	19	7
8	Arizona	9	10	8	29
9	Rhode Island	16	1	47	6
10	Hawaii	33	23	3	1
11	Idaho	3	24	28	12
12	Nebraska	5	16	24	18
13	Colorado	18	21	11	23
14	Wyoming	7	41	15	9
15	Indiana	10	13	17	36
16	Georgia	37	14	6	11
17	Oregon	22	31	14	21
18	North Carolina	17	12	27	25
19	Massachusetts	21	2	50	8
20	South Carolina	36	4	29	15
21	Florida	30	7	25	24
22	Tennessee	26	17	12	17
23	Kansas	27	32	13	34
24	Montana	12	29	34	16
25	Missouri	25	25	16	28
26	Washington	28	26	10	26
27	Texas	31	6	26	31
28	Alabama	42	15	21	19
29	Nevada	23	20	22	40
30	Maryland	43	11	32	22
31	South Dakota	13	43	20	33
32	New Jersey	38	27	41	35
33	Minnesota	14	46	18	5
34	New Mexico	19	35	33	38
35	Pennsylvania	24	19	43	39
36	Alaska	20	40	31	42
37	Oklahoma	45	39	23	30
38	Mississippi	32	37	39	20
39	New York	47	38	35	32
40	Illinois	46	33	37	27
41	Vermont	34	42	30	43
42	Louisiana	48	28	42	44
43	Maine	41	30	45	47
44	New Hampshire	35	34	48	48
45	Kentucky	29	44	46	49
46	Arkansas	39	47	44	41
47	Delaware	49	49	38	37
48	West Virginia	44	48	36	46
49	Michigan	40	50	40	45
50	Connecticut	50	45	49	50

Our analysis found two nationwide patterns when it comes to the riskiest states to travel to this holiday season. Southern states like West Virginia, Alabama and Tennessee pose a greater health risk for travelers. We found that southern states have higher rates of coronavirus, flu and RSV, and lower rates of vaccination.

Western states, meanwhile, pose a greater risk while traveling. Utah has the highest rate of speeding tickets and California drivers get the most DUIs.

Methodology:

QuoteWizard analyzed 10 metrics to find out the riskiest states to travel to. This includes driving accidents, speeding tickets, DUIs, COVID-19 cases, flu activity and RSV cases. Each metric was ranked on a 1-50 scale, with an ascending score representing the least safe to safest conditions for specific state travel. We then determined each state’s safety ranking by averaging across all metric scores to calculate its overall ranking and used the resulting scores to rank-order each state.

Adult COVID-19 vaccination rates: QuoteWizard analyzed CDC data on adults who are not vaccinated against COVID-19. Our ranking is based on states that had the lowest to highest percentages of adults with both doses of a vaccine as of Dec. 10.

Dangerous driving states: QuoteWizard analyzed 2022 data from millions of insurance quotes from drivers in each state using QuoteWizard.com. We used a composite ranking system to rank each city for its rate of incidents. Incidents include accidents, speeding tickets, DUIs and citations.

COVID-19 case and death rates: We looked at CDC data on the United States daily average COVID-19 Cases and deaths by state per 100K in the last seven days starting Dec. 10.

Flu activity: We looked at data from the CDC’s weekly Influenza Surveillance Report to compile information on flu activity in each state.

RSV trends: RSV trends were measured using data from the CDC’s National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS).

References:

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