The town of South Burlington, Vt.—house to Vermont’s one main airport, Lake Champlain sunsets, and 20,000 residents—has been deemed the Most secure Metropolis in America by WalletHub, in accordance with its 2024 Most secure Cities in America record, launched on Oct. 7.
The complete high 10 record is as follows:
- South Burlington, Vt.
- Casper, Wyo.
- Warwick, R.I.
- Burlington, Vt.
- Boise, Idaho
- Yonkers, N.Y.
- Cedar Rapids, Iowa
- Columbus, Md.
- Portland, Maine
- Virginia Seashore, Va.
To find out its record, WalletHub in contrast 182 cities—together with the 150 most populated U.S. cities, plus at the very least two of probably the most populated cities in every state—in three important classes: house and group security, natural-disaster threat, and monetary security.
“When folks take into consideration security in a metropolis, their minds most likely instantly go to issues just like the crime charge, auto fatality charge or threat of pure disasters,” famous Chip Lupo, WalletHub analyst, within the report. “The most secure cities in America shield residents from these threats of bodily hurt and property injury, however on high of that, in addition they assist safe folks’s monetary security. Monetary security consists of issues like minimizing the chance of fraud and identification theft, retaining the inhabitants employed and insured, and combating homelessness.”
With that in thoughts, Lupo and others at WalletHub evaluated the three classes utilizing 41 related metrics—together with site visitors fatalities per capita, law-enforcement workers per capita, assaults per capita, hate crimes per capita, variety of mass shootings, street high quality, earthquake threat index rating, unemployment charge, and the pure catastrophe threat stage—every graded on a 100-point scale, with a rating of 100 representing the very best stage of security.
They then decided the weighted common of every metropolis (excluding cities within the surrounding metro space) throughout all metrics for an total rating, rating them with these scores.
Under, a better take a look at the highest three.
South Burlington, Vt.
Additionally touchdown a spot on Fortune’s current Finest Locations to Dwell for Households record (at No. 29) for its out of doors entry, sustainability initiatives, and low crime charges, South Burlington scored massive right here for its protected roads: It has one of many lowest pedestrian fatality charges within the nation, the Thirteenth-lowest share of uninsured motorists, and the ninth-most EMTs and paramedics per capita.
Additional, it has the bottom unemployment charge within the nation (1.9%), the second-lowest share of significantly underwater mortgages, and the third-fewest non-business chapter filings per capita over the previous yr. “This demonstrates that residents are doing effectively financially and are at a diminished threat of being unable to pay their payments, shedding their property or changing into homeless,” the report explains.
The town can also be comparatively protected from pure disasters, with the 14th-lowest threat of flooding, Twenty first-lowest threat of tornadoes, and Thirty first-lowest threat of wildfires.
Casper, Wyo.
This outdoorsy mountain group on the North Platte River additionally benefitted from its protected roads, as Casper has one of many lowest pedestrian fatality charges. It additionally has the Thirty second-lowest aggravated assault charge, is the second-safest metropolis for strolling alone at night time, and the fourth-safest for strolling alone through the day, in accordance with research by Numbeo. Additional, it has the Forty second-lowest homicide charge amongst all of the assessed cities.
Relating to pure disasters, Casper residents are comparatively protected: The town has the sixth-lowest threat of hail, Twentieth-lowest threat of flooding, Twenty fourth-lowest threat of tornadoes, and Thirty second-lowest threat of earthquakes.
Monetary security was sturdy, too, as Casper has the fewest identification theft complaints and the second-fewest fraud complaints per capita—plus the fifth-lowest share of uninsured drivers, which, the report explains, “prevents folks from racking up hefty bills after an accident.”
Warwick, RI
This historic coastal metropolis is the third-safest on the record, with the bottom variety of murders and the second-lowest variety of aggravated assaults per capita, plus the fewest thefts per capita.
Warwick can also be well-situated with regards to threat of pure disasters, with the seventh-lowest threat of hail, Tenth-lowest threat of wildfires, Twenty third-lowest threat of tornadoes, and Twenty ninth-lowest threat of earthquakes.
Relating to monetary security, town has the seventh-lowest share of residents with out medical health insurance and the sixth-lowest share who’re dwelling in poverty—plus the Twentieth-fewest fraud complaints per capita.
WalletHub additionally requested a panel of public-safety efforts—amongst them Jonathan Lee, Penn State Harrisburg affiliate professor of legal justice—to weigh in on this yr’s greatest considerations. “Extra crimes in all places,” Lee stated. “As a consequence of COVID residual impact and poor economic system, there are extra folks coping with aggravating life, which results in a rise in social issues.”
Jorge X. Camacho, coverage director and scientific lecturer in regulation on the Justice Collaboratory of Yale Regulation Faculty, famous that regardless of it being a presidential election yr, “the nationwide dialog on public security is a little more muted than it has been in recent times.”
To the extent that public security has been a spotlight, he stated, “consideration has largely targeted on the intersection of immigration and crime and the misunderstood (and, usually, intentionally misrepresented) connection between the 2,” as immigrant communities are inclined to have increased charges of employment, decrease charges of divorce, and better charges of instructional enrollment, all of which lend themselves to higher security.
“All this to say that the general public questions of safety of the day endure from a substantial disconnection from documented reality,” stated Camacho, “which distracts from extra urgent public security considerations, like entry to psychological well being providers, housing, and training, every of which has a far stronger linkage to security than immigration.”
Additional overlap between WalletHub’s Most secure Cities record and Fortune’s Finest Locations to Dwell for Households record consists of South Portland, Maine on Fortune and, on WalletHub, the neighboring Portland, Maine (at No. 9)—in addition to Fargo, N.D. (No. 12 on WalletHub) and Sioux Falls, S.D. (No. 22 on WalletHub. See the total 2024 Most secure Cities in America record and report right here.
