These Are the 2018 Safest and Least Safe Cities in America
WalletHub has released its 2018 report comparing 182 major U.S. cities across 39 key safety indicators to determine which are the safest.
Personal-finance website WalletHub has released the results of its annual “Safest Cities in America” report.
In its report, WalletHub compared more than 180 U.S. cities across 39 key metrics. To rank each city, the site looked at three key dimensions: home & community safety, natural-disaster risk and financial safety.
Those dimensions were then evaluated using 39 relevant metrics, each of which was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest level of safety.
You can view the full details of the report and its methodology here.
The Safest Cities in America
The safest cities in the top 10 remain largely unchanged from last year, albeit in a different order. The safest cities don’t have much in common location-wise other than a little over half of them are on the East coast.
- Columbia, Md.
- South Burlington, Vt.
- Plano, Texas
- Virginia Beach, Va.
- Warwick, R.I.
- Gilbert, Ariz.
- Yonkers, N.Y.
- Bismarck, N.D.
- Nashua, N.H.
- Boise, Idaho
The Least Safe Cities in America
In general, the country’s least safe cities are in the South and Midwest. Note, these aren’t necessarily the “most dangerous” cities in the country.
- St. Louis, Mo.
- Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
- San Bernardino, Calif.
- Baton Rouge, La.
- Little Rock, Ark.
- Detroit, Mich.
- Oklahoma, Okla.
- Wichita, Kan.
- Los Angeles, Calif.
- Jackson, Miss.
Click here for a slideshow comparing statistics such as assaults per capita and law enforcement numbers between the safest and least safe cities.
Here are a few key statistics:
- Irvine, California, has the fewest aggravated assault incidents (per 100,000 residents), 23.90, which is 63.6 times fewer than in Detroit, the city with the most at 1,519.55.
- Yonkers, New York, has the fewest thefts (per 1,000 residents), 11.38, which is eight times fewer than in Springfield, Missouri, the city with the most at 90.80.
- Washington has the most law-enforcement employees (per 100,000 residents), 645, which is 5.9 times more than in Irvine, California, the city with the fewest at 109.
- Lincoln, Nebraska, has among the fewest pedestrian fatalities (per 100,000 residents), 0.36, which is 18.6 times fewer than in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the city with the most at 6.71.
Security pros, does this data add up to where you are located, or is your city missing?
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About the Author
Steve Karantzoulidis, Web/Senior Editor
Steven A. Karantzoulidis is the Web Editor for Security Sales & Integration. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a degree in Communication and has a background in Film, A/V and Social Media.
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I have been looking much of the day at homes in St Louis, MO, wanting to relocate to another city. Having never been there I haven’t had the time to explore the city online too much yet. But was SO disappointed to hear in this article how unsafe it is there. I doubt that would stop me though if I decide to relocate there.