If you live in California and you’re the kind of person who worries obsessively about encountering a serial killer, you might consider moving to a different place - like Maine. Of all the states in the union, California has the single highest number of serial homicide cases in the twentieth century - fully 16 percent of the national total. Maine, on the other hand, had the lowest - none. Other states to avoid: New York, Texas, Illinois, and Florida. The safest places in America, at least in terms of serial murder, are Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, and Vermont, each of which had only one case of serial murder in the twentieth century.

• The United States is the hands-down leading producer of serial killers, with 76 percent of the world’s total. Europe comes in a distant second with a measly 17 percent.
• England has produced 28 percent of the European total. Germany is a very close second with 27 percent, and France is third with 13 percent.
• In terms of demographics, the vast majority of American serial killers - fully 84 percent - are Caucasian and a mere 16 percent black.
• In terms of gender, men constitute the overwhelming preponderance of serial killers - at least 90 percent. Indeed, depending on how the crime is defined, many experts believe that serial murder is an exclusively male activity.
• While women constitute, at most, an infinitesimal fraction of serial murderers, they make up the majority of victims - 65 percent.
• It is very rare for a serial killer to prey on members of another race. Since most serial killers are white, so are the vast majority of victims - 89 percent.
• Serial murder tends to be a young person’s crime. Most serial killers - 44 percent - embark on their deadly careers in their twenties, with 26 percent starting out in their teens and 24 percent in their thirties.