San Bernardino Among Least Safe Cities in Nation

San Bernardino Does Not Fare Well in WalletHub Report

With the U.S. experiencing more than 340 mass shootings and more than 26,000 motor vehicle deaths so far this year, the personal-finance company WalletHub today released its report on 2025’s Safe Cities in America, Only one California city was listed in the bottom 10: San Bernardino.

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.

It’s not the first time.  Sab Bernardino was also listed among the least safe cities in the nation in 2019, 2020 and 2022. The city also has been listed among the worst places to rent.

Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the 18th-most populous city in California. The Riverside–San Bernardino metropolitan area at 4.74 million residents is the 12th-largest metropolitan area in the nation. San Bernardino is the economic, cultural, and political hub of the San Bernardino Valley and Inland Empire.

WalletHub in the past has also listed San Bernardino as one of the worst places to raise a family and one of the worsts places for Veterans. 

“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,” said Chris Lupo, WalletHub analyst. “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.”
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“Warwick, RI, 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. 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.”

Safest Cities in America
1. Warwick, RI
2. Overland Park, KS
3. Burlington, VT
4. Juneau, AK
5. Yonkers, NY
6. Casper, WY
7. South Burlington, VT
8. Columbia, MD
9. Lewiston, ME
10. Salem, OR

Least Safe Cities in America
173. Cleveland, OH
174. Philadelphia, PA
175. San Bernardino, CA
176. Houston, TX
177. Fort Lauderdale, FL
178. Baltimore, MD
179. Detroit, MI
180. Baton Rouge, LA
181. Memphis, TN
182. New Orleans, LA

Safest vs. Least Safe

• Virginia Beach, Virginia, has the fewest aggravated assault incidents (per 100,000 residents), which is 51.9 times fewer than in Memphis, Tennessee, the city with the most.
• Nampa, Idaho, has the fewest thefts (per 1,000 residents), which is 10.5 times fewer than in Oakland, California, 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, California, 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, Mississippi, the city with the most.