The threats of COVID-19 possess new safety concerns across the country, adding to the existing threats of wildfires, storms, other natural disasters and man-made crimes.
In a recent report was made by WalletHub, consisting of 182 cities in the United States, including 150 of the nation’s most heavily populated cities. Each city is given a safety score and ranked them in multiple categories;
- Home & Community Safety
- Natural Disaster Risk
- Financial Safety
Home & Community Safety was measured through the average COVID-19 cases in the last 7 days per 100,000 residents, assaults, theft and other crimes.
Natural Disaster Risk was determined based on the risk level of a variety of different disasters like earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, wildfires and other natural occurrences that may cause damage.
Meanwhile, Financial Safety was calculated based on the unemployment rate, uninsured population based on percentage, debt-to-income rate, poverty rate, and other financial data.
With all these categories combined, WalletHub came up with the top 10 safest US cities to live in 2020;
1. Columbia, Maryland
Overall Score: 84.52.
- 4th in Home & Community Safety
- 7th Financial Safety
2. South Burlington, Vermont
Overall Score: 83.99.
- 6th in Home & Community Safety
3. Plano, Texas
Overall Score: 81.20.
- 3rd in Home & Community Safety
4. Nashua, New Hampshire
Overall Score: 80.80.
- 10th in Home & Community Safety
5. Lewiston, Maine
Overall Score: 80.59.
- 12th in Natural Disaster Risk
6. Burlington, Vermont
Overall Score: 80.55.
- 17th in Home & Community Safety
7. Salem, Oregon
Overall Score: 80.03.
- 11th in Home & Community Safety
8. Virginia Beach, Virginia
Overall Score: 79.68.
- 9th in Home & Community Safety
9. Raleigh, North Carolina
Overall Score: 79.55.
- 13th in Financial Safety
- The only state capital that got into the top 10 list of safest cities.
10. Gilbert, Arizona
Overall Score: 79.
- 14th in Natural Disaster Risk
- 16th in Financial Safety
Furthermore, South Burlington, VT; Boise, ID; and Fargo, ND all ranked in third place for the lowest unemployment rate of all U.S. cities.
Irvine, CA and Nashua, NH came first and second respectively, for the fewest assaults per capita.
There you have the top 10 safest cities in the United States, we hope this helps your decision on where to build your dream house.
