Florida attracts more than 130 million visitors each year. Inevitably, more hazardous incidents occur along Florida’s beaches than most states. A recent study by White Law PLLC analyzed various criteria, including hurricanes, shark attacks, and surf zone fatalities, to assign a score out of 100 for each beach, identifying America’s most dangerous shores.
Topping the list and earning the title of America’s most dangerous beach is New Smyrna Beach, Florida, with a score of 76.04. This beach not only has a high likelihood of experiencing hurricanes due to its coastal location, but it also records the most shark attacks in the U.S., with 185 incidents to date, surpassing Daytona Beach, which ranks second with 141 attacks.
In second place is Panama City Beach, Florida, which has a score of 67.75. This beach has recorded 32 surf zone fatalities, the highest total of any beach in the U.S., primarily attributed to rip currents.
Daytona Beach, Florida, ranks third with a score of 60.01. It has significant levels of both shark attacks and surf zone fatalities, with 18 shark attacks and 44 fatalities recorded.
Miami Beach, Florida, comes in fourth, with a score of 47.78. Like the other Florida beaches on this list, Miami Beach is among the highest for hurricane frequency, with a total of 124 hurricanes recorded.
Fifth place is awarded to Cocoa Beach, Florida, with a score of 46.35. Notably, out of 26 recorded shark attacks at Cocoa Beach, none were fatal.
Ormond Beach, Florida, ranks sixth with a score of 41.57. All six recorded surf zone fatalities here have been attributed to rip currents.
Seventh on the list is Ponce Inlet, Florida, with a score of 41.54. Located in Volusia County, Ponce Inlet has experienced 34 shark attacks, but only two surf zone fatalities.
Indialantic Beach, Florida, claims the eighth spot with a score of 40.30, reporting a total of six surf zone fatalities and eight shark attacks.
Ninth is Melbourne Beach, Florida, with a score of 40.92. This beach has witnessed 19 recorded shark attacks, most of which were related to surfing.
Rounding out the top ten most dangerous beaches in America is Miramar Beach, Florida, with a score of 40.63. Despite having seven surf zone fatalities, Miramar Beach is the only beach in the top ten without any recorded shark attacks.The full data set including the full ranking of all beaches in America is available upon request.
Methodology
A total of three factors were used to compile the index: surf zone fatalities, shark attacks, and hurricanes.
The raw data for each factor was cleaned, checked, and standardized
on the same scale from 0 to 10, where 0 and 10 represent
the worst and best values present in the data, to allow for accurate
comparison between factors. Factors for which a high score would be negative were subtracted from 10 to invert their scoring.
Once the weightings were assigned, the total score for the factors was calculated, producing an overall index score out of 100 for each entry, upon which the final ranking is based.
The full data set including the full ranking of all beaches in America is available upon request.
https://noaa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/60d29733f7e44d49a25cfe1178ea6798
https://www.sharks.org/global-shark-attack-file
https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/hurdat/All_U.S._Hurricanes.html
