Top Safest Cities in US to Live in

According to the 2023 Global Peace Index report, the USA was ranked the 131st safest country in the world out of 163 countries. This is a low figure. If you want to visit the United States of America and you have a visa, go then. But study in advance which cities are the safest for you to get as many advantages from staying there as you can. 

The concept of safety includes situations related to people, infrastructure, and natural phenomena. Do your research on crime rates, the lack of hostilities, and how tolerant the locals are of foreigners. 

Home & Community Safety

All people have some common wishes, for example, to stay healthy and safe. That is why home and community safety are very important to us. It means preventing, reducing, and tackling anti-social behaviour, abuse, drugs, and crime.

The evidence of home and community safety is based on the following factors: 

• Subjective perception of safety (e.g., walking alone day/night).
• The number of drug deaths.
• The quantity of pedestrian and driver deaths in crashes. 
• Statistics of the kinds of assaults.
• Number of terrorist attacks and mass shootings. 
• Murders and negligent homicides per capita. 
• Regularity of rapes and sexual assaults. 
• Frequency of hate crimes. 
• Amount of theft offenses. 
• Sufficient quantity of members of certain professions per capita, such as paramedics, police officers, and firefighters.
• Percentage of homeless people who are sheltered.
• Quality of roads.

Natural-Disaster Risk

Natural disaster risk is an important consideration when evaluating the overall safety of a city. There are many natural phenomena that can harm a person, and the most common are: hurricane storm surge risk, the risk of tornadoes, hail risk, and wildfire risk. They are included in the indicators of natural disaster risks.

Unfortunately, the power of natural elements is very difficult to defeat, but it is possible to prepare for them by finding out if the area is prone to natural catastrophes. For example, Brownsville, Texas, stands out as having the lowest natural disaster risk among the cities surveyed. 

Knowing the information provided in this article, you can decide not to live near stony mountains on the windward side or near rivers that overflow during rains.

Financial Safety

Financial safety is a crucial component in evaluating a city's overall security. Key factors that contribute to a strong financial safety profile include low underemployment, a low uninsured population, high median credit scores, low poverty rates, and so on. Cities with lower rates of identity theft, fraud, and unbanked households, also tend to rank higher in financial safety.

Here you may see the criteria that are important to understand the level of financial safety:

• Underemployment rates.
• Employment guarantee. 
• Employment growth adjusted for an upsurge in the working-age population.
• Percentage of uninsured population and uninsured drivers.
• Median credit score.
• Debt-to-income ratio.
• Poverty rate.
• Personal bankruptcy filings per capita.
• Percentage of severely indebted mortgage loans where the aggregate appraised balance of the loans is at least 25 percent higher than the appraised market value of the properties that secure the loans.
• Identity theft complaints per capita.
• Fraud complaints.
• Non-financial complaints.
• Proportion of unbanked households.
• The share of households that have set aside money for unexpected expenses during the last 365 days.
• Retirement Plan Access & Participation Rate, where “Retirement Plan” includes only employer-based plans.

What are the safest cities in the United States?

 According to the rates, the safest states in the USA are Arizona, Vermont, Maine, Texas, and Virginia.

The list of the safest cities in the USA (the rating is based on the main criteria described above):

Source: Wallethub.com

A little more detail about each of these cities:

• Nashua, New Hampshire, is a winner in the ranking of the safest places to live in America, standing highly in home and community safety as well as financial safety. It has the second-lowest rate of assaults per capita. Its population is 91,322, according to the last data. Nashua's economy is based on financial services, defense industry, and high technology, as it should be in the best city to live in America. 
• Columbia, Maryland, is the second most populous city in the state of Maryland, with a population of 104,681. Columbia's government aimed to eliminate class, racial, and religious segregation, make the city pleasant to live in, and improve the layout of neighborhoods. As it is the safest city concerning home & community safety, the government's goal has been achieved.
• South Burlington, Vermont, is a city with the first place in the report concerning financial safety: it has the lowest unemployment rate and a low percentage of uninsured residents. However, it also has relatively high rates of hate crimes.
• Gilbert, Arizona, is the safest city in Arizona, according to the report. And it was placed within the top five safest places in the United States due to very low natural disaster risk and above-average home/community safety. Gilbert had a population of 275,346 in 2022 and is the fifth-largest municipality in its state. The city has been called the “Silicon Desert” of places because it's home to startups and technology companies.
• Warwick, Rhode Island, is the 5th safest city, with low assault rates and above-average home/community safety, though its financial safety score is more modest. It has a population of 82,823. Here you may find a very good private school system, and maybe because of it, the cost of living here is higher than average. 
• Portland, North Dakota, has the second place among the 182 safest cities to live in the United States in terms of financial safety. Its population was 68,408 in 2020. Portland is the most populous city in Maine. In the 21st century, its economy began to rely on the service sector, but still stays linked to the sea, merchant shipping, and light industry.
• Casper, Wyoming, is a relatively safe city, with a slightly lower than average crime rate compared to most U.S. cities. Its population was 59,038 in 2020, and it's known as “The Oil City” because of the nearby Salt Creek Oil Field. Moreover, Casper is a regional center of commerce and banking.
• Yonkers, New York, is an inner suburb of New York City with a population of 211,569 according to 2020. At the moment, the composition of the population here is changing due to the influx of wealthy people and, therefore, investment and more safety. This explains why this city took the high place in the topic of home & community safety in the overall ranking. 
• Burlington, Vermont, is situated on the Lake Champlain, and it has the population of 44,743. It is another Vermont city among the safest, with strong home/community safety and relatively low natural disaster risk. It is the first city to run entirely on renewable energy since 2015. Health services, education, trade, and transportation are the backbone of the local economy. 
• Scottsdale, Arizona, has been called “the West's westernmost city.” With a population of 241,361, it has become one of the fastest growing cities in America during the last 20 years. Scottsdale is the 10th safest city, benefiting from low natural disaster exposure and above-average community safety.
• Laredo, Texas, has the second-highest percentage of uninsured people but scores relatively well on home/community safety and natural disaster risk. Its population was 255,205 in 2020.
• Virginia Beach, Virginia, is located where the Chesapeake Bay flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It is a resort city with a population of 459,470. It has very low assault rates, contributing to its ranking as the 12th safest city.
• Lewiston, Maine, with a population of 37,121, has a low crime rate and rather cheap housing. Lewiston was among the cities receiving an award from the National Civic League. This means proudly being recognized as a place where residents work together to solve common community problems. 
• Chandler, Arizona, is a very safe city with low crime rates and natural disaster risk. Also, it is a tech hub for corporations like Wells Fargo, PayPal, Boeing, and Intel. Chandler also cares about its residents. Citywide programs are underway: renovation of the fire station, treatment measures to maintain more than 2080 lane miles of roadways conversion of streetlights from high-pressure sodium lamps to new energy efficient LED fixtures, which will reduce streetlight energy consumption.    
• Bismarck, North Dakota, has the lowest home & community safety rank among the top 20 Americas' safest cities, but can be proud of the lowest unemployment rate and relatively high financial safety. With a population of 73,622, it was ranked by Forbes magazine as the seventh fastest-growing small city in the United States. 
• Cape Coral, Florida, has the highest natural disaster risk among 20 top safest cities in the USA and minimum financial safety; but from the point of view of home and community safety, it is a pretty good place to live. It’s located in the Gulf of Mexico. It is a rapidly growing city with a population of 194,016. The economy is based on retail, real estate/construction, and healthcare services.
• Brownsville, Texas, has the second-lowest natural disaster risk but struggles with high uninsured population rates. Because of its immigration policies and its proximity to Mexico, this city has attracted media attention. Brownsville was selected as one of six cities for their “Greening America's Communities” program by the Environmental Protection Agency. 
• Raleigh, North Carolina, has above-average community safety and financial security. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reports, 2019, the rate of violent crime and property crime was far below the American crime rate. The healthcare and pharmaceutical industries also have been growing in recent years.
• Chesapeake, Virginia, has a below-average violent and property crime rates, but its financial safety is more modest. A well-developed warning system is in place: the Virginia Department of Emergency Management has a great resource to help understand when to evacuate during a storm. Here it’s even a mosquito control service. City officials engage citizens in initiatives to green and improve the city.
• Boise, Idaho, has lower than average crime rates and natural disaster risk, though its financial safety is not as strong as some other cities. In the past, white settlers sought gold here after the deposits in California dried up. Now the economy is based on the service industry.