It's an odd list in some ways. The implication is that I am safer in Boston, Massachusetts (state rank 21) than Albuquerque, New Mexico (state rank 48). Really? I've lived in both cities, and I can't say that any New Mexican city kept me on edge like Boston does.
Part of the problem might be the way they give all crimes equal weight. New Mexico, for example, has one of the highest rates of alcohol-related deaths in the nation (I don't suppose drive-thru liquor stores have anything to do with that), and a high rate of burglary and petty crime in the southern border regions. Are they considering these as equal to, say, shootings and gang-related murders?
Perhaps things have changed in New Mexico and Arizona since I lived in those states, but something about this list still strikes me as being dependent on a very specific methodology.