According to WalletHub, the personal-finance website, nearly half of Americans worry about being safe at school, at work, and in their own neighborhoods. Given that, the site released its report on 2019’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 41 key metrics.
The dataset ranges from assaults per capita to unemployment rate to road quality.
The safest cities were Columbia, Md.; Yonkers, N.Y.; Plano, Texas, Gilbert, Ariz.; South Burlington, Vt.; Virginia Beach, Va.; Bismarck, N.D.; Nashua, N.H.; Chandler, Ariz.; and Warwick, R.I.
The cities deemed the least safe were Jackson, Miss.; Memphis, Tenn.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Birmingham, Ala.; Little Rock, Ark.; Baton Rouge, La.; Detroit; San Bernardino, Calif.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and St. Louis.
The safest versus the least safe revealed:
- Irvine, Calif., has the fewest aggravated assault incidents (per 100,000 residents), 23.26, which is 63.5 times fewer than in Detroit, the city with the most at 1,477.78.
- Port St. Lucie, Fla., has the fewest thefts (per 1,000 residents), 9.74, which is 7.4 times fewer than in Spokane, Wash., the city with the most at 72.11.
- Washington has the most law-enforcement employees (per 100,000 residents), 643, which is six times more than in Irvine, Calif., the city with the fewest at 108.
- Plano, Texas, and Lincoln, Neb., have among the fewest pedestrian fatalities (per 100,000 residents), 0.35, which is 19 times fewer than in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the city with the most at 6.66.