Which States Have the Most Missing Persons?

Methodology

The team at VivintSource.com gathered data from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System to see which states have the most and least amounts of missing persons per capita. State populations reported came from the 2017 American Community Survey one-year estimates.

Data Highlights

A missing person is defined as “anyone whose whereabouts is unknown whatever the circumstances of disappearance.” They can be considered a lost person, someone who has voluntarily gone missing, or someone who is missing against their will. In our research, we uncovered some compelling data about missing persons:

• Of the 15,207 people currently missing in the US, approximately 60% are male and 40% are female.
• The average age of people when they go missing is around 34.
• As of January 2019, there are 106 children currently missing who were younger than a year old when they went missing.
• Alaska has the most missing persons per capita, with 41.8 people missing per 100,000 population. Massachusetts has the least missing persons per capita, with 1.8 people missing per 100,000 population.
• However, California has the most missing persons in total, with 2,133 people missing. Rhode Island has the least, with 20 people missing.
• The cities with the most missing people total include Los Angeles (189), Phoenix (170), Houston (165), San Francisco (163), and Detroit (150).
• There are 12,459 unidentified persons as of January 2019.