A Treasure Trove for Trivia Buffs: Latest Statistical Abstract of U.S.

North Dakota has more registered motor vehicles than people. America’s most profitable farms are in Rhode Island. Florida’s crime rate is triple that of West Virginia.

The American fondness for comparing one state to another gets a boost today as the Commerce Department releases the latest edition of the Statistical Abstract of the United States.

About 100 of the tables are new, the Census Bureau said.

The new figures are in addition to 60 perennially published tables that rank the states by population, size and other factors. For example:

--New Mexico has the most highway accident deaths per 100,000 residents, at 40.6; Connecticut has the least, at 12.1.

--Minnesota has the most conscientious voters, with 68.4% of them casting ballots in the presidential race of 1984. South Carolina had the lowest turnout, a 40.6% voting rate.

--Florida took the No. 1 spot for an average of 7,574 crimes committed for each 100,000 residents in 1986. West Virginia was last, with 2,253 crimes per 100,000 people.

--Nearly 188 of every 1,000 Mississippians received food stamps in 1985, more than any other state. Vermonters received the least number of food stamps.

--Hawaiians live the longest, an average of 77.02 years. Louisianans had the shortest average life span, 71.74 years, according to a study.