When planning your outdoor camping vacation, there are many things to consider before you grab your camping gear. As well as making sure you have the right equipment, all the family are organized and packed accordingly, and there are plenty of the best camping snacks for the kids, it's important that you are aware of the safety risks and precautions to take when you go camping.
Apart from checking campground reviews, there are safety measures that you should take. For instance, are there animal attacks in the area? What are the crime rates, and how can you prepare for the weather?
Fortunately, there are many campgrounds in the U.S. that take your health and safety very seriously. These can alleviate some of the stress from your camping vacation, so there are fewer things to be concerned about.
To make your camping trip planning a little easier, we’ve taken a look at some of the highest-rated campgrounds in each U.S. state. Looking at dangers related to animal attacks, and crime rates, as well as access to amenities you will need, to discover the safest camping spots to visit.
When looking at the safest campgrounds in America, we looked at the percentage of campgrounds for each state that were rated 10 out of 10, comparing the water access and Wi-Fi accessibility, as well as the average annual weather, crime rates, and the number of deaths caused by animal attacks.
Safety score:
Sitting at the top of our list for the safest camping spots is the state of Texas. Texas offers the highest number of top-rated campgrounds (10%).
As well as offering 94 camps with water access and 70 camps with Wi-Fi access, the crime rates are relatively low (17.1 per 100,000 people), considering how big Texas is.
The average temperature in Texas is usually warm but comfortable at 64.8°F, though it is important to protect yourself with sunscreen and stay hydrated.
It is worth noting that Texas has the highest number of animal attack deaths than any other state. It is important to be vigilant when hiking in the countryside and mountains - familiarize yourself and those in your group with government advice on how to deal with animal encounters.
Safety score:
Second, on our list is the golden coast of Florida. Florida offers America’s second-highest-rated campgrounds, scoring 9.4%, as well as 18 Wi-Fi-friendly parks and 30 water-accessible parks.
Safety score:
Coming up in third place for the safest camping spots is the southeastern state of Louisiana. Louisiana offers fewer top-rated camping spots than Florida and Texas (5.7%), but it has much fewer animal attack deaths (79).
Louisiana does have higher crime rates than the others in our top three (33.3 per 100,000 people) so it's important to read government advice when traveling. The average weather is usually warm and mild at 66.4°F, making it a great temperature to explore while staying protected from the sun.
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Safety score:
The most unsafe state to camp in America is the northeastern state of New Jersey. New Jersey’s top-rated campgrounds came in at 0.4% and none of these parks have water or Wi-Fi access.
New Jersey also has the highest number of animal attack deaths of our top three most unsafe camping spots, with 39 deaths.
Safety score:
The second most unsafe camping spot on our list is Massachusetts. It has the second-lowest number of top-rated campgrounds of our bottom three, rated 1.0% and none of them have water or Wi-Fi access.
Safety score:
The third on our list of unsafe camping spots is Nevada, known for its desert landscapes. Nevada has the highest crime rate of our top three with 25.8 crimes per 100,000 people.
Nevada scores poorly for its low number of top-rated campgrounds, with a ranking of 2.24%, the absence of Wi-Fi in its parks and just 2 parks with water accessibility.
We searched state by state on the RV Life Campgrounds website to find campgrounds in the USA.
We then used the search filters to find the campgrounds that were rated 10 out of 10, to find the total number of top-rated campgrounds for each state.
We used the search filters to explore whether those top-rated campgrounds had Wi-Fi, and then water accessibility. This data is accurate as of 08/07/2022.
We used Outforia’s research into The Most Deadly Animals in North America to find out how many animal attack deaths have occurred in each state.
We were then able to look at Current Results, for the Average Annual Temperature for Each State to look at weather averages.
We finally looked at World Population Review’s Crime Rate by State 2022 to work out the crime index for each state, by adding the Homicide Rate and the Firearms Death Rate to come up with a total percentage.
