Town of South Burlington, Vt.—residence 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 total 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 Seaside, Va.
To find out its record, WalletHub in contrast 182 cities—together with the 150 most populated U.S. cities, plus no less than two of essentially the most populated cities in every state—in three foremost classes: residence and group security, natural-disaster threat, and monetary security.
“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,” famous Chip Lupo, WalletHub analyst, within the report. “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.”
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, highway high quality, earthquake threat index rating, unemployment price, 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 more in-depth take a look at the highest three.
South Burlington, Vt.
Additionally touchdown a spot on Fortune’s latest Finest Locations to Reside for Households record (at No. 29) for its out of doors entry, sustainability initiatives, and low crime charges, South Burlington scored large 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 price within the nation (1.9%), the second-lowest share of severely underwater mortgages, and the third-fewest non-business chapter filings per capita over the previous yr. “This demonstrates that residents are doing well financially and are at a reduced risk of being unable to pay their bills, losing their property or becoming homeless,” the report explains.
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 price, is the second-safest metropolis for strolling alone at evening, and the fourth-safest for strolling alone through the day, in accordance with research by Numbeo. Additional, it has the Forty second-lowest homicide price amongst all of the assessed cities.
Relating to pure disasters, Casper residents are comparatively protected: 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 people from racking up hefty expenses 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 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 prison justice—to weigh in on this yr’s largest considerations. “More crimes everywhere,” Lee stated. “Due to COVID residual effect and poor economy, there are more people dealing with stressful life, which leads to an increase in social problems.”
Jorge X. Camacho, coverage director and scientific lecturer in legislation on the Justice Collaboratory of Yale Regulation College, famous that regardless of it being a presidential election yr, “the national conversation on public safety is a bit more muted than it has been in recent years.”
To the extent that public security has been a spotlight, he stated, “attention has largely focused on the intersection of immigration and crime and the misunderstood (and, often, deliberately misrepresented) connection between the two,” as immigrant communities are inclined to have larger charges of employment, decrease charges of divorce, and better charges of instructional enrollment, all of which lend themselves to larger security.
“All this to say that the public safety issues of the day suffer from a considerable disconnection from documented truth,” stated Camacho, “which distracts from more pressing public safety concerns, like access to mental health services, housing, and education, each of which has a far stronger linkage to safety than immigration.”
Additional overlap between WalletHub’s Most secure Cities record and Fortune’s Finest Locations to Reside for Households record contains 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.
