More than 160,000 children miss school every day out of fear of being bullied, which inspired WalletHub to conduct an in-depth analysis of the states with the biggest bullying problems.
The study analyzed 45 states and the District of Columbia using 17 key metrics, including bullying-incident rate, truancy costs for schools, and percentage of high school students bullied online.
The following states had the worst bullying problems in the United States:
- Michigan
- Louisiana
- West Virginia
- Montana
- Arkansas
- Texas
- Idaho
- Alabama
- South Carolina
- Alaska
These states had the least amount of bullying issues:
- Massachusetts
- North Carolina
- Vermont
- District of Columbia
- Rhode Island
- Florida
- Delaware
- Connecticut
- Hawaii
- California
States on the low end of the list weren't immune to the effects of bullying. For example, while the District of Columbia had the lowest percentage of high school students bullied online at 7.86 percent, they also had the highest proportion of students involved in a physical fight at 13.81 percent.
Still, those at the top of the list highlighted the severity of bullying in the United States. 26.28 percent of high school students in Nebraska were bullied on school property, and 21.08 percent of students in Idaho were bullied online. In Louisiana, 13.10 percent of students missed school because they felt unsafe and 13.10 percent of bullied students attempted suicide.
