San Bernardino, ground zero for the Dec. 2, 2015 terrorist attack in which 14 people were killed and 22 others were seriously, has been designated one of the least safe cities in the nation, according to WalletHub, a personal finance website.

The attack consisted of a mass shooting and an attempted bombing at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. The perpetrators, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, a married couple living in the city of Redlands, targeted a San Bernardino County Department of Public Health training event and Christmas party of about 80 employees in a rented banquet room. Farook was a U.S.-born citizen of Pakistani descent, who worked as a health department employee. Malik was a Pakistani-born green card holder.

With nearly 50% of Americans worrying about being the victim of a mass shooting or a terrorist attack, WalletHub on Dec. 2 released its report on 2019’s Safest Cities in America.

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 assaults per capita to unemployment rate to road quality.

The safest cities in America are:

  1. Columbia, MD
  2. Younker, NY
  3. 17Gilbert, Ariz.
  4. South Burlington, VT
  5. Virginia, Beach, Va.
  6. Bismarck, ND
  7. Nashua, NH
  8. Chandler, Ariz.
  9. Warwick, RI

The least safe cities from No. 173 to No. 182 are:

Jackson, Miss.; Memphis, Tenn.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Birmingham, Alabama; Little Rock, Ark.; Baton Roue, LA; Detroit, Mich.,  San Bernardino, Calif.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and St. Louis, MO.

 

Safest vs. Least Safe

  • Irvine, California, has the fewest aggravated assault incidents (per 100,000 residents), 23.26, which is 63.5 times fewer than in Detroit, the city with the most at 1,477.78.
  • Port St. Lucie, Florida, has the fewest thefts (per 1,000 residents), 9.74, which is 7.4 times fewer than in Spokane, Washington, the city with the most at 72.11.
  • Washington has the most law-enforcement employees (per 100,000 residents), 643, which is six times more than in Irvine, California, the city with the fewest at 108.
  • Plano, Texas, and Lincoln, Nebraska, have among the fewest pedestrian fatalities (per 100,000 residents), 0.35, which is 19 times fewer than in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the city with the most at 6.66.

To read the full report and your city’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/safest-cities-in-america/41926/

Image Sources

  • San Bernardino: Shutterstock