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The 20 Safest Cities in America, Mapped

Emily Petsko|
iStock.com/finwal
iStock.com/finwal | iStock.com/finwal

If safety is a top concern for you when choosing where to live, there are several factors you need to take into account. Personal safety may come to mind immediately, but financial risks and natural disasters are also worth considering, too. Fortunately, as Thrillist reports, WalletHub has weighed all of these factors in its latest analysis of the safest cities in America, which you can explore in the map below.

To crown the country's safest city, WalletHub considered 39 different factors in three different categories. In the home and community safety category, the number of mass shootings, sex offenders, law-enforcement employees, and traffic fatalities per capita were factored into the score, among other information. The financial safety score, on the other hand, accounted for the unemployment rate, number of identity theft complaints, job security, and retirement plan access and participation rates. The natural-disaster risk score was based on the likelihood of earthquakes, floods, hurricane storm surges, hail, tornados, and wildfires.

Source: WalletHub

Out of the 182 U.S. cities included in WalletHub’s analysis, Columbia, Maryland ranked the highest for overall safety, earning 86 points out of 100 overall. The city appeared fourth in the home and community safety category, 34th in the financial safety category, and 63rd in the natural-disaster safety category.

Below are the 20 safest cities in the country, according to WalletHub.

The 20 Safest Cities

1. Columbia, Maryland
2. South Burlington, Vermont
3. Plano, Texas
4. Virginia Beach, Virginia
5. Warwick, Rhode Island
6. Gilbert, Arizona
7. Yonkers, New York
8. Bismarck, North Dakota
9. Nashua, New Hampshire
10. Boise, Idaho
11. Brownsville, Texas
12. Chandler, Arizona
13. Aurora, Illinois
14. Chesapeake, Virginia
15. Scottsdale, Arizona
16. Burlington, Vermont
17. Lewiston, Maine
18. Fargo, North Dakota
19. Salem, Oregon
20. Worcester, Massachusetts

The round-up also gives you an idea of the least safe cities in America, if you’re hoping to avoid locales with a less-than-stellar track record. This analysis identifies St. Louis, Missouri as the least safe city in the country. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, ranks lowest in home and community safety. Here are some of the others that made the least-safe list:

The 20 Least-Safe cities

1. St. Louis, Missouri
2. Fort Lauderdale, Florida
3. San Bernardino, California
4. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
5. Little Rock, Arkansas
6. Detroit, Michigan
7. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
8. Wichita, Kansas
9. Los Angeles, California
10. Jackson, Mississippi
11. Memphis, Tennessee
12. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
13. New Orleans, Louisiana
14. Cleveland, Ohio
15. Las Vegas, Nevada
16. St. Petersburg, Florida
17. Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky
18. Kansas City, Missouri
19. Orlando, Florida
20. Knoxville, Tennessee

Want to know more? Head to WalletHub to read more about the data and methodology involved.

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