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V O L . X X I X N O. X I X 6 Fact Book / Doing Business in Maine Q UA L I T Y O F L I F E Maine has six "high performing" hospitals, according to U.S. News & World Report, which looked at 5,000 hospitals nationwide. Maine is middle-of-the- pack when it comes to credit card debt, ranking No. 26, with median debt of $2,247. Alaska was No. 1, with median credit card debt of $3,517, according to WalletHub. Maine ranked among the top 10 states for summer road trips as shown in a WalletHub scorecard that looked at 32 metrics. Maine also ranked No. 1 for safety. WalletHub's report on "2023's Best & Worst States for Health Care" puts the Pine Tree State at No. 7 overall, based on 44 measures of cost, accessibility and outcome. And it ranked Maine No. 1 for access. P H O T O / F R E D F I E L D P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F M A I N E O F F I C E O F T O U R I S M Camden, a seaport town on the midcoast, and the York County town of Ogunquit have both made Tripadvisor's list of 15 "trending" destinations in the United States "on the up and up." Ogunquit Beach, a popular York County summer destination, ranked No. 9 on Tripadvisor's list of the top 10 U.S. beaches in 2023, sandwiched between two California seaside destinations, Coronado (No. 8) and La Jolla (No. 10). Camden Beachgoers may wince at this rank- ing, but Maine has three of the priciest beach towns, as measured by the room rates at area hotels. Kennebunkpor t, Bar Harbor and Portland are all on the list, which is based on findings by TravelMag.com of worldwide destinations with a minimum of 20 hotels or inns and at least one beach. Nantucket topped the list. Maine ranked No. 27 among Bankrate.com's list "Best places to retire." The ranking weighs out a half-dozen criteria, including affordability (where Maine ranked low at No. 34) and weather (at No. 44). But it did well for low crime rate (ranking at No. 2) and overall "well being" (at No. 10). Iowa ranked No. 1 on the list and Alaska was at the bottom. S O U R C E : U.S. Census Bureau, 2021 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates 400 350 250 300 150 200 100 50 0 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Maine's violent crime rate dropped in 2020 to the lowest rate in 10 years The U.S. violent crime rate is the highest in 10 years RATE OF VIOLENT CRIME OFFENSES BY POPULATION (RATE PER 100,000 PEOPLE, BY YEAR)