This Is the U.S. State with the Most Psychopaths

Better watch your back.

Macro Globe Map Detail 07Kent Weakley/Shutterstock

Everyone knows the old saying that the quiet ones are the most dangerous. But how true is it, really? According to one new study, it’s pretty accurate—at least as far as American states go. That’s right. The state with the most psychopathic residents is also one of the most under-the-radar.

So just where will you want to watch your back? Connecticut. The tiny northeastern state ranked number one on Southern Methodist University professor Ryan Murphy’s research-backed list of the most psychopathic states in the continental U.S. California, New Jersey, New York, and Wyoming filled out the top five. If you live in one of these states, make sure you know the 13 signs you’re dealing with a psychopath.

To find these results, researchers relied on previous surveys that established the levels of the big five personality traits (extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience) in each state. They found which of the big five personality traits were most common in psychopaths and created a calculation to give each state a score. Ensure you know about these sneaky signs of a psychopath.

Currently, the study has only been prepublished, meaning it is not published in a journal nor has it undergone peer review. However, according to previous published research, psychopaths often show traits like disinhibition, boldness, and meanness. “Boldness corresponds to low neuroticism and high extraversion, meanness corresponds to low agreeableness, and disinhibition corresponds to low conscientiousness,” Murphy told Quartz. Now that you know how the scores were calculated, check out the full list.

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

As you can see, there seems to be a high concentration of psychopaths in the northeast. And if the research holds up, you’re probably safest in the south. Think you’re a state trivia expert? These are the 24 state facts everyone gets wrong.