Are you more likely to have your identity stolen in Kentucky? Here’s what some experts found.

Do you pause every time you stick your checking account debit card or credit card in a gas pump or hesitate to open emails or refuse to answer calls from unfamiliar numbers because you don’t want to risk having your money or identity stolen?

Do you worry about your kids or your parents not taking the same precautions?

Well, living in Kentucky makes you less vulnerable to fraudsters or identity thieves, a new analysis of all 50 states plus the District of Columbia shows.

Kentucky ranked 45th, and being near the bottom is where Kentuckians want to be. The state’s residents are less likely to be exposed to identity theft as measured by identity theft complaints per capita and average loss amount and less likely to be victims of fraud as measured by fraud complaints per capita, median loss amount from fraud, people arrested for fraud per capita and e-commerce attack rates, according to the personal finance website Wallet Hub. Wallet Hub has gotten national attention for its data-centric studies.

In this case, Wallet Hub got data from the Federal Trade Commission, Internet Crime Complaint Center, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, Experian Information Solutions and the National Conference of State Legislators.

The organization also considered public and business policies in the states and whether those policies protect people or prevent fraud and identity theft. Kentucky ranked 16th among the states with 51 being the best. The measure was based on whether there was a security-freeze law for minors’ credit reports; if there was a program in place to help victims reclaim their identities (an “identity theft passport” allows a victim to “prevent his or her arrest for offenses committed by an identity thief) ; if there was compliance with the REAL ID act (more secure licenses that require people to present more documentation about their identities); and strength of data disposal laws.

Kentucky has plans to sell the more secure, REAL ID compliant drivers licenses next year. The state lacks strong data disposal laws and security freeze protections for minors.

Do you travel or have relatives living elsewhere? Then you probably want to consider the best and worst states for fraud or identity theft. Some of our neighboring states have more identity theft and fraud, according to Wallet Hub. Here are the breakdowns.

• New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, North Dakota, Illinois, California, Maryland, West Virginia, New York and Michigan have the most incidents of and loss from identity theft.
• Delaware, Florida, District of Columbia, Oregon, Nevada, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia have the most incidents of and loss from fraud.
• The most identity thefts per capita occurred in the District of Columbia, Michigan, Florida, California and Maryland.
• The most fraud complaints per capita occurred in the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Delaware.
• The highest average loss amount from identity theft occurred in Ohio, North Dakota, West Virginia, Nebraska and New Jersey.
• The highest average loss amount from fraud occurred in Wyoming, Arizona, California, Idaho and Nevada.
• You are more likely to be safe from identity theft or fraud in Hawaii, South Dakota, Vermont, Iowa, Maine and Wisconsin. Those states ranked better than Kentucky.

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This story was originally published October 17, 2018 at 9:51 AM.