Dogwoods at Maple Hill Cemetery

Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville, Alabama. (Bob Gathany/bgathany@al.com)

Alabamians, compared to the rest of the country, are more likely to be gunned down, die in a wreck or be murdered.

But that's not what makes this the second deadliest state in the nation -- just behind Mississippi.

Homicides and fatal crashes are comparatively few.

Instead, in terms of raw numbers, it comes down to this: There are few states where residents are more likely to die of heart disease, strokes or cancer than in Alabama.

Alabama has the second highest rate of deaths related to heart disease, just behind Mississippi. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in this state, and across the nation, claiming 12,083 lives in Alabama in 2010.

Alabama has the second highest rate of deaths due to stroke, just behind Arkansas. That's according to the most recent nationwide data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control.

Here's how Alabama compares to other states overall:

Alabama saw the seventh highest fatality rate due to cancer, which claimed 10,196 lives in 2010 and is the second leading cause of death in Alabama.

But Alabama also tops lists for violent deaths, seeing the third highest rate of homicide, behind Louisiana and then Mississippi. Only Alaska and Louisiana saw a higher rate of gunshot deaths.

Alabama is fifth for fatal car wrecks.

Alabama saw the nation's highest rate of infant mortality.

A total of 48,038 Alabamians died in 2010.

That's according to a large federal study looking at all deaths in 2010 and released last year. Across the country, life expectancy was 78.7 years in 2010, death rates were at a record low and for the first time homicide fell out of the top 15 leading causes of death nationwide.

If Alabama saw any bright spots in the gloomy local data, it was on alcohol. The odds of drinking yourself to death in Alabama are relatively low, just 5 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2010. Alabama sees fewer alcohol-related deaths than Utah.