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When the zombie apocalypse hits, pray you're in Alaska

Real estate site Estately has compiled data on which states stand the best chance of surviving the brain eaters. Live in Alaska and you should be OK. In Jersey, you better have a good plan B.

Michael Franco
Freelancer Michael Franco writes about the serious and silly sides of science and technology for CNET and other pixel and paper pubs. He's kept his fingers on the keyboard while owning a B&B in Amish country, managing an eco-resort in the Caribbean, sweating in Singapore, and rehydrating (with beer, of course) in Prague. E-mail Michael.
Michael Franco
2 min read

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Zombies. If you can't beat 'em, move to a state that can! nosha/Flickr
If you live in New Jersey, you're going to want to stock up on several cases of zombie-repelling cologne.

That's because, according to a new ranking by real estate site Estately, Jersey is the least likely state in America to survive an zombie apocalypse, followed by Mississippi and Washington, D.C. The safest places to be when the zombies arrive? Alaska, followed by Wyoming and Colorado.

Estately will release these most pressing of findings on its blog Wednesday, but it gave Crave a sneak peek.

To come up with their ranking, the researchers asked four basic questions, according to Estately CEO Galen Ward. "One, does the state have a population that's knowledgeable about zombies? Two, are they physically capable of evading them? Three, do they have the training and skills to fight them? Four, do they have the guns and shooting skills to kill zombies?"

The researchers looked at Facebook to see who was interested in topics like paintball, martial arts, survival skills, laser tag, and Ironman triathlons, while they turned to census data to determine active and retired military personnel. The Web site America's Health Rankings rounded out the rankings with reports on obesity and physical activity. For gun ownership, Estately turned to governing.com and its utility that shows FBI firearm background checks by state. All data was converted to a per capita basis.

Even though New Jersey was the least prepared to ward off a zombie hoard (despite being a likely candidate for zombie ground zero thanks to all those chemical plants it harbors), Washington, D.C., took the honors of having the lowest number of veterans per capita, the least survival skills, the fewest gun owners, and the lowest number of people interested in Ironman competitions.

New Mexico was the state with the best knowledge of zombies, which, considering it's home to Roswell, is somehow not surprising. It was also the state ranked No. 1 in martial arts skills -- so it's maybe not a bad place to be when the brain eaters come.

Me though? I'm putting my money on the laser taggers, which means it looks like I'll have to move to laser-tagging hotbed Wisconsin. Go Badgers!

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Looking for real estate? Start at the top of this list to move to an anti-zombie state. (Click to enlarge.) Estately