When people think of "safety" in their homes and communities, crime is often the first thing that pops into their heads. But as WalletHub notes for its rankings of the safest cities in America, there's more to it than that. Safety can also encompass a variety of other environmental and economic factors, so the site looked at 182 of the nation's largest cities and analyzed more than three dozen metrics in three main categories: home and community safety, which looked at everything from violent crime (e.g., mass shootings, rapes, and assaults) to COVID vaccination rates, traffic fatalities, and law enforcement workers per capita; natural disaster risk (the risk level from such events as hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, floods, and the like); and financial safety (think unemployment and poverty rates, complaints of identity theft, and median credit score). Columbia, Md., emerged as the safest city, while St. Louis brought up the rear. Here, the top and bottom 10:
Safest Cities
- Columbia, Md. (No. 1 in "Home & Community Safety" category)
- Nashua, NH
- Laredo, Texas
- Portland, Maine
- Warwick, RI
- Yonkers, NY
- Gilbert, Ariz.
- Burlington, Vt.
- Raleigh, NC
- Lewiston, Maine
Least Safe Cities
- Chattanooga, Tenn.
- Jackson, Miss.
- Oakland, Calif.
- Oklahoma City
- Memphis, Tenn.
- Baton Rouge, La.
- Detroit
- San Bernardino, Calif.
- Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
- St. Louis