ACTIVE MISSING PERSONS CASES BY STATE
OKLAHOMA HAS THE LARGEST percentage of missing people in America, with Arizona, Oregon, Louisiana and Arkansas also above average, the latest federal statistics show.
The data also points to wide regional variation, with Southern states having some of the highest percentages of missing people. The information is collected by the National u.s. Missing Persons Database [Namus], which is operated by the Department of Justice.
Every day, roughly 2,300 Americans are reported missing. One expert told Newsweek that the real figures for missing people are higher than the federal statistics show.
Oklahoma has the highest percentage of missing people in the Namus figures, at 16 missing per 100,000 residents, followed by Arizona at 14.2. Louisiana has 12 missing people per 100,000, Arkansas has 11.6, New Mexico 11.5 and Florida 7.7.
Massachusetts had the lowest at 2.7 per 100,000. The states around the Great Lakes also had some of the lowest: Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana each have 3.3 per 100,000; Minnesota has 3.4.
Despite alarming headlines about missing children in Cleveland last year, Ohio also has a low rate at 3.5 per 100,000.
New York has 5.5 per 100,000, New Jersey has 4.1 and Connecticut 6.2. Maine is somewhat of an anomaly in the Northeast with 10.3, higher than any other state in the region.
The figures are significantly higher on the West Coast. Oregon has one of the top rates of missing people in America at 12.5 per 100,000. Washington State has 10.8, and California has 8.6.
Dr. Jesse Goliath, who has launched a separate project for Mississippi called the Mississippi Repository for Missing and unidentified Persons, told Newsweek that the real figures are higher than the federal statistics show.
“In general, there is no federal requirement for reporting missing persons cases to Namus. So, without mandatory reporting by law enforcement, the number of actual missing persons in each state is actually much higher than reported,” Goliath said. Newsweek sought comment by email from Namus about Goliath’s findings.
Goliath, an assistant anthropology professor at Mississippi State University, said his research has shown that the real missing persons figures in Mississippi are much higher.
“For example, in Mississippi, Namus only has 188 missing persons cases. Our database, Mississippi Repository, has 497 missing persons cases,” he added.
“The other factor influencing those numbers is jurisdiction differences and police resources. In Mississippi and other rural states, the county sheriffs are usually the only agencies that have the money to support full-time missing persons investigators. In the larger states with bigger cities, there are more investigators at the city, county and state levels,” Goliath said.
There are also regional differences in how statistics are collected, he added.
“One additional factor to consider is how people are reported missing. Each state has a different process or procedures for how to report a missing