The safest cities in America in 2017

Updated

Housing costs may be the most important factor people consider when choosing where to live. But safety is often a close second. When deciding where to raise a family, for example, many parents place a premium on safety. Living in a safe environment means more than just a place with little crime. Breathing in polluted air is dangerous and living in cities with reckless drivers is also a cause for concern. Below we delve into data on these and other factors to rank the safest cities in America for 2017.

In order to rank the safest cities in the country, we looked at data for the 200 largest cities in the country. Specifically, we looked at data on crime rates, vehicular mortality rates, drug poisoning rates, the percent of residents who drink excessively, the quality of air and the percent of commuters who drive to work alone.

Key Findings

  • Not much change – Many of the safest cities last year are still safe today. In fact seven of last year’s top 10 made appearances in the top 10 this year and the top two cities kept their places.

  • Unsafe Missouri? Missouri has three cities in our bottom 15. Only California can match that score. Kansas City in particular suffered from high violent crime rates.

Data and Methodology

In order to find the safest cities in the country, we looked at data for the largest 200 cities. Specifically we looked at data for the following seven metrics:

  • Violent crime rate. This is the number of violent crimes per 100,000 residents. The violent crime data comes from FBI’s 2016 Uniform Crime Reporting Database.

  • Property crime rate. This is the number of property crimes per 100,000 residents. The property crime data comes from FBI’s 2016 Uniform Crime Reporting Database.

  • Vehicular mortality rate. This is the number of deaths due to traffic accidents per 100,000 residents. Data comes from countyhealthrankings.com

  • Drug poisoning mortality rate. This is the number of drug poisoning deaths per 100,000 residents. Data comes from countyhealthrankings.org.

  • Population engaging in excessive drinking. This is the percentage of adults who consumed more than four drinks of alcohol for women or five drinks of alcohol for men on a single occasion over a 30-day period, or who engage in heavy drinking which is defined as drinking more than one drink per day for women or two drinks per day for men on average. Data comes from countyhealthrankings.org.

  • Air Quality Index. This is a measure of air pollution in each city. The Air Quality Index data comes from the Environmental Protection Agency. According to the EPA, a score of 0 – 50 is good and 51 – 100 is moderate.

  • Commuters driving to work alone. This is the percentage of the workforce that gets to work by driving alone. The data on the percentage of commuters who drive to work alone comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2016 1-Year American Community Survey.

First, we ranked each city in each article. Then we found each city’s average ranking, giving a half weight to excessive drinking rate and drug overdose rate, and a double weight to violent crime rate. Using this average ranking we created our final score. The city with the best average ranking received a 100. The city with the worst average score received a 0.

Tips for Saving on Home Insurance

If you are worried about your home, and the valuables inside, make sure you shop around for a home insurance policy which fits your needs. Home insurance can be pricey so shopping around and comparing rates is a good idea.

One good way to save money is to bundle insurance packages under the same company. Say you already have car insurance and are looking for home insurance. Often you can get a better deal if you bundle your car and home insurance together with one company.

Like many things in personal finance, the best rates go to those with the best credit score. By keeping your credit score high, or raising it before shopping for home insurance, you can get yourself a better rate and save some money.

Questions about our study? Contact us at press@smartasset.com

Photo credit: ©iStock.com/PhotoNotebook

Nick Wallace completed the data analysis for this study.

The post The Safest Cities in America in 2017 appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.

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