Community safety "comes in many forms," notes WalletHub—from avoiding mass shootings, natural disasters, and car accidents, to having health insurance, financial security, and avoiding eyebrow-raising websites. WalletHub looked at more than 180 of the nation's largest cities to see which ones are safest, using more than three dozen metrics across three main categories: home and community safety (think assaults, thefts, and rapes per capita, as well as mass shootings and traffic fatalities, among other factors); natural-disaster risk, including earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, and wildfires; and financial safety, which looks at everything from unemployment and poverty rates to fraud complaints, job security, and underwater mortgages. The New Hampshire city of Nashua emerged as the safest on WalletHub's list, with St. Louis taking up the rear. The top and bottom 10:
Safest cities
- Nashua, New Hampshire
- Columbia, Maryland (No. 1 in "Home and Community Safety" category)
- South Burlington, Vermont (No. 1 in "Financial Safety" category)
- Gilbert, Arizona
- Warwick, Rhode Island
- Portland, Maine
- Casper, Wyoming
- Yonkers, New York
- Burlington, Vermont
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Least safe cities - Washington, DC
- Los Angeles
- Oklahoma City
- Memphis, Tennessee (last in "Financial Safety" category)
- Oakland, California
- Detroit
- Baton Rouge (last in "Home and Community Safety" category)
- San Bernardino, California
- Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- St. Louis
Check out how other cities fared in WalletHub's rankings
here. (
These states have recently popped up on "safest" lists.)