Most dangerous US states to work, ranked

Wyoming had the highest rate of fatal injuries at work in 2016.Bill45/Shutterstock

• Rates of fatal injuries at work vary from state to state.
• Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we found the states with the highest and lowest rates of fatal work injuries.

Some jobs are more dangerous than others. The risk of dying on the job also varies across different parts of the country.

Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, we took a look at the rate of fatal occupational injuries in 2016 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers in each state. 

States with a heavier concentration of extractive industries like mining, oil-drilling, and forestry tended to have higher fatal injury rates. Wyoming had the highest rate in the country, with 12.3 deaths per 100,000 workers, while the District of Columbia had the lowest, with just 1.4 deaths per 100,000 workers.

Here’s the 2016 fatal occupational injury rate in every state:

Business Insider/Andy Kiersz, data from Bureau of Labor Statistics

And here are the states’ fatal injury rates and overall number of fatal occupational injuries, ranked from lowest rate to highest: