‘The United States of Fear’: How Scary is Maryland?

How scary is Maryland?

Sort of. Not very. 

The state ranks in the middle of the pack in “The United States of Fear” ranking in the Estately Blog, so it’s a matter of perspective.

If shark attacks, meth labs or heights give you the willies, Maryland is the place to live. But the blog noted, "At least there are no bears in Baltimore," which is much less of a fear factor for residents than violent crime.

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The state ranked 5th among 50 states fear of lightning, and 8th for fear of dentists. Somewhat surprisingly, the scariest thing about Maryland is not murder, which ranked 7th among the states.

Maryland comes in at No. 25 on the list, based on 15 criteria of common fears:

1. Bears: No. 33
2. Clowns: No. 27
3. Prison: No. 25
4. Flying: No. 19
5. Hurricanes: No. 15
6. Shark attacks: No. 50
7. Spiders: No. 24
8. Snakes: No. 30
9. Dentists: No. 8
10. Tornadoes: No. 24
11. Heights: No. 45
12. Meth labs: No. 48
13. Lightning: No. 5
14. Volcanoes: No. 32
15. Murderers: No. 7

The top five states on The United States of Fear list are, in order of scariness, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana and Alabama. The least-scary state are South Dakota, North Dakota, Vermont, Nebraska and Montana.

So, except for a few categories, Maryland isn’t all that scary.

» For more information and the data used to compile the list, click here.