WalletHub’s 2018 Safest Cities in America survey WalletHub has revealed that Columbia is the safest city in the United States. The personal finance site studied 182 cities, including the 150 most populated U.S. locales, across 39 key indicators, including home and community safety, natural disaster risk and financial safety.
Columbia ranked No. 4 in home and community safety, a category that weighted murder and terrorist attacks, while also considering the number of mass shootings, rapes, thefts, traffic fatalities, etc.; for natural disaster risk, it ranked No. 63, which took into account floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires and other risks; and for financial safety, Columbia checked in at No. 34, considering an unemployment rate, poverty rate and other factors.
WalletHub’s Top Five
- Columbia, Md.
- South Burlington, Vt.
- Plano, Texas
- Virginia Beach, Va.
- Warwick, RI
The survey also noted that Washington, D.C., has the highest number of law enforcement officers per capita and ranked at No. 155 on the list, checking in at No. 166 for home and community safety, No. 80 for natural disaster risk and No. 61 for financial safety; Baltimore City ranked No. 156: it listed at No. 155, No. 67 and No. 149 in the three categories, respectively.