Aliens coming to earth used to be a fringe conspiracy-adjacent belief that was often accompanied by tinfoil hats and underground bunkers filled with canned goods. But these days, extraterrestrial curiosity has officially entered the mainstream, with two-thirds of Americans saying they think aliens exist.


But with that increased belief comes an increase in wondering what to do if visitors from outer space actually arrive on our planet. In the past few months, Google searches for “what would happen if aliens came to Earth” have skyrocketed by 2,850 percent.


It’s a fair question to ask. We all hope the aliens are friendly, but as a million movies have shown us, there’s a chance they will come to conquer. So what does one do if the mothership comes for interplanetary domination?


I can’t claim to have all the answers, but I can offer this super convenient ranking of the 50 states based on which would be the safest to call home in the case of a not-so-friendly alien invasion.


The state where you can feel the most secure is apparently Virginia, due in large part to its strong military presence, as it boasts the highest per capita of military service members in the nation. It also has a ton of nature that’s great for hiding, including 29 caves and 63 percent forest cover.


That said, it’s worth noting that Virginia is the home of a military base that may have been monitored by mysterious flying drones for several weeks last year, so that massive armed forces presence may actually be more of a net negative than a positive.



Alabama is right behind Virginia, thanks to its heavy law enforcement and relatively low reported UFO sightings. The state that will almost certainly surprise you the most on the Top 10 is New York since its namesake city always gets attacked first in any kind of disaster movie. But outside of NYC, the state is mostly filled with a lot of nature, which might be the ideal circumstance for avoiding alien detection.


10 Safest States to Survive an Alien Invasion


  1. Virginia
  2. Alabama
  3. Minnesota
  4. Massachusetts
  5. New York
  6. Florida
  7. Wisconsin
  8. North Carolina
  9. Alaska
  10. Georgia


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will likely come as no surprise that the state you should avoid at all costs is the home to Area 51, which is widely rumored to be where the government has been keeping aliens for decades. If the feds haven’t been treating the aliens well, that makes the state especially vulnerable to potential attacks from aliens who may be seeking revenge for the mistreatment.



Even being around Nevada is apparently quite dangerous, as Arizona and Utah all made it into the bottom 10 states to reside once the aliens are here. Idaho finished second-to-last because of the nation’s lowest per capita healthcare workforce (22.95 per capita) and unusually high UFO activity (6.95 sightings per 10,000 people).


10 Least Safe States to Survive an Alien Invasion

  1. Nevada
  2. Idaho
  3. Arizona
  4. Nebraska
  5. Oregon
  6. Utah
  7. Oklahoma
  8. New Hampshire
  9. South Carolina
  10.  Wyoming