As the COVID-19 coronavirus remains a major concern for all Americans, many homeowners ponder the question of just where can we live? Where can we feel safe if that’s even possible? The personal-finance website WalletHub may have helped answer those questions by releasing its report on 2020’s Safest Cities in America.
To determine where Americans can feel most protected against life’s hazards, including nonphysical forms of danger, WalletHub compared more than 180 U.S. cities across 42 key metrics. The data set ranges from COVID-19 cases in the past seven days per 100,000 residents and assaults per capita to the unemployment rate and road quality.
Those safestcities, according to the website, are Columbia, Md., South Burlington, Vt., Plano, Texas, Nashua, N.H., Lewiston, Me., Burlington, Vt., Salem, Ore., Virginia Beach, Va., Raleigh, N.C., and Gilbert, Ariz.
On the other side, the least safest cities to reside in were Chattanooga, Tenn., Memphis, Tenn., Baton Rouge, La., Jackson, Miss., Detroit, Birmingham, Ala., San Bernardino, Calif., St. Louis and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Comparing the safest versus the least-safest, the following points were made:
- Irvine, Calif., has the fewest aggravated assault incidents (per 100,000 residents), 23.58, which is 60.5 times fewer than in Detroit, the city with the most at 1,426.82.
- Port St. Lucie, Fla, has the fewest thefts (per 1,000 residents), 8.74, which is 9.1 times fewer than in Springfield, Miss., the city with the most at 79.81.
- Washington has the most law-enforcement employees (per 100,000 residents), 641, which is 5.8 times more than in Irvine, Calif., the city with the fewest at 111.
- St. Paul, Minn., has among the fewest pedestrian fatalities (per 100,000 residents), 0.32, which is 24 times fewer than in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the city with the most at 7.67.