With the U.S. experiencing over 340 mass shootings and over 26,000 motor vehicle deaths so far this year, the personal-finance company WalletHub recently released its report on “2025’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 data set ranges from traffic fatalities per capita and assaults per capita to the unemployment rate and the percentage of the population that is uninsured.
The safest cities were determined to be Warwick, R.I., Overland Park, Kan., Burlington, Vt., Juneau, Ark., Yonkers, N.Y., Casper, Wyo., South Burlington, Vt., Columbia, Md., Lewiston, Maine. and Salem, Ore.
The least safe were Cleveland, Philadelphia, San Bernardino, Calif., Houston, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Baltimore, Detroit, Baton Rouge, La., Memphis, and New Orleans.
The safest versus least safe takeaways from the survey were:
- Virginia Beach, Va., has the fewest aggravated assault incidents (per 100,000 residents), which is 51.9 times fewer than in Memphis, the city with the most.
- Nampa, Idaho, has the fewest thefts (per 1,000 residents), which is 10.5 times fewer than in Oakland, Calif., the city with the most.
- Washington, D.C., has the most law-enforcement employees (per 100,000 residents), which is 5.2 times more than in Irvine, Calif., the city with the fewest.
- Lincoln, Neb., has among the fewest pedestrian fatalities (per 100,000 residents), which is 33.4 times fewer than in Jackson, Miss., the city with the most.
“When people think about safety in a city, their minds probably immediately go to things like the crime rate, auto fatality rate or risk of natural disasters,” WalletHub Analyst Chip Lupo said. “The safest cities in America protect residents from these threats of bodily harm and property damage, but on top of that, they also help secure people’s financial safety. Financial safety includes things like minimizing the risk of fraud and identity theft, keeping the population employed and insured, and combating homelessness.”
“Warwick, R.I., is the safest city with the third-lowest number of aggravated assaults, the seventh-lowest number of thefts, and the 32nd-lowest number of murders per capita out of the 182 cities in our study,” Lupo added. “Warwick also provides good conditions for financial safety, as it has the fourth-lowest percentage of residents without health insurance, as well as the fourth-lowest percentage who are living in poverty. On top of that, the city has the 37th-fewest fraud complaints per capita.”