Threats ranging from public health and natural disasters to financial harm are among the many factors Americans consider when moving to a different city.
To determine where people feel most secure, WalletHub compared more than 180 cities across 41 key safety indicators, including traffic fatalities and assaults per capita, the unemployment rate, and the percentage of residents without health insurance.
“When people think about safety in a city, their minds probably immediately go to things like the crime rate, auto fatality rate, or risk of natural disasters,” Chip Lupo, WalletHub analyst, said in a statement. “The safest cities in America protect residents from these threats of bodily harm and property damage, but on top of that, they also help secure people’s financial safety. Financial safety includes things like minimizing the risk of fraud and identity theft, keeping the population employed and insured, and combating homelessness.”
According to the study, these U.S. cities are the safest in America:
South Burlington, Vermont
WalletHub noted that Juneau ranked as the safest city, in part because it has the lowest murder rate and the lowest pedestrian fatality rate. It also has the 62nd-lowest number of thefts, and there were no terrorist attacks or related incidents recorded in the city during the past decade.
The top five least-safe cities in the U.S. are:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Fremont, located in Alameda County in Northern California, was the highest-ranked California city on the list, earning the 14th spot.
Irvine, the highest-ranked Southern California city, ranked 28th, while Santa Rosa placed 29th.
Los Angeles ranked near the bottom, coming in at No. 168 out of 182 cities. The City of Angels ranked low in the study’s “Home & Community Safety,” “Natural-Disaster Risk,” and “Financial Safety” subcategories.
The full study can be viewed here.
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