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1 / 25#25. Glendale, California
- Total safety score: 66.15
--- Home and community safety rank: 5
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 150
--- Financial safety rank: 137
Safest cities in America
Believe it or not, crime in the U.S. is on the decline. According to the Council on Criminal Justice, there's been a downward tend on violent crimes in particular, with homicide in 2025 down 25% from 2019. That doesn't mean that everywhere in the country is equally safe, and safety is understandably a major concern for many Americans. When choosing where to settle down, crime rates are often a primary consideration.
Stacker compiled a list of the safest cities in the U.S. using 2025 rankings from WalletHub. For this ranking, 150 cities and at least the two most populous cities in each state were considered. Cities were ranked on 41 metrics across three main areas: home and community safety, natural disaster risk, and financial safety. You can read more about Wallethub's methodology here.
There tends to be a belief that crime rates in larger cities are always higher than those in smaller cities. While that may be true in some cases– crime rates in New York City, for example, are certainly higher than they are in Boise, Idaho– it's not always an accurate statement.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation compiled a list of 13 factors that affect the number and types of crimes committed in a place. Among them are the economic stability, religious bent, and climate of a city, as well as things like family stability, youth concentration, and primary modes of transportation. This helps explain why New York City, with a population of 8.5 million and an unemployment rate of 4%, could be safer than somewhere like Akron, Ohio, with its population of 190,000 and an unemployment rate of 5.6%.
The cities that made our list tend to have more stable economies, lower rates of natural disasters, strong law enforcement agencies, cohesive criminal justice systems, and connected communities, which have been proven to act as strong deterrents against crime.
Did your city make our list? Read on to find out.
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2 / 25#24. Fremont, California
- Total safety score: 66.24
--- Home and community safety rank: 17
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 137
--- Financial safety rank: 37
Jacob Boomsma // Shutterstock
3 / 25#23. Chula Vista, California
- Total safety score: 66.34
--- Home and community safety rank: 20
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 39
--- Financial safety rank: 104
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4 / 25#22. Sioux Falls, South Dakota
- Total safety score: 66.71
--- Home and community safety rank: 36
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 86
--- Financial safety rank: 23
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5 / 25#21. Laredo, Texas
- Total safety score: 66.72
--- Home and community safety rank: 32
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 25
--- Financial safety rank: 84
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6 / 25#20. Huntsville, Alabama
- Total safety score: 66.78
--- Home and community safety rank: 27
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 63
--- Financial safety rank: 50
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7 / 25#19. Madison, Wisconsin
- Total safety score: 66.82
--- Home and community safety rank: 29
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 88
--- Financial safety rank: 14
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8 / 25#18. Honolulu
- Total safety score: 66.86
--- Home and community safety rank: 35
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 57
--- Financial safety rank: 10
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9 / 25#17. Vancouver, Washington
- Total safety score: 66.88
--- Home and community safety rank: 78
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 2
--- Financial safety rank: 58
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10 / 25#16. Juneau, Alaska
- Total safety score: 67.01
--- Home and community safety rank: 101
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 1
--- Financial safety rank: 111
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11 / 25#15. Nashua, New Hampshire
- Total safety score: 67.03
--- Home and community safety rank: 16
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 111
--- Financial safety rank: 8
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12 / 25#14. Missoula, Montana
- Total safety score: 67.04
--- Home and community safety rank: 55
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 8
--- Financial safety rank: 59
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13 / 25#13. Chesapeake, Virginia
- Total safety score: 67.06
--- Home and community safety rank: 19
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 42
--- Financial safety rank: 79
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14 / 25#12. Fargo, North Dakota
- Total safety score: 67.15
--- Home and community safety rank: 33
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 74
--- Financial safety rank: 30
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15 / 25#11. Irvine, California
- Total safety score: 67.41
--- Home and community safety rank: 4
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 127
--- Financial safety rank: 121
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16 / 25#10. Virginia Beach, Virginia
- Total safety score: 67.58
--- Home and community safety rank: 15
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 53
--- Financial safety rank: 64
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17 / 25#9. Portland, Maine
- Total safety score: 67.77
--- Home and community safety rank: 44
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 23
--- Financial safety rank: 2
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18 / 25#8. Columbia, Maryland
- Total safety score: 68.08
--- Home and community safety rank: 1
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 11
--- Financial safety rank: 65
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19 / 25#7. Cedar Rapids, Iowa
- Total safety score: 68.36
--- Home and community safety rank: 10
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 43
--- Financial safety rank: 78
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20 / 25#6. Yonkers, New York
- Total safety score: 68.75
--- Home and community safety rank: 3
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 29
--- Financial safety rank: 139
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21 / 25#5. Boise, Idaho
- Total safety score: 69.17
--- Home and community safety rank: 26
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 46
--- Financial safety rank: 19
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22 / 25#4. Burlington, Vermont
- Total safety score: 69.55
--- Home and community safety rank: 38
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 6
--- Financial safety rank: 7
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23 / 25#3. Warwick, Rhode Island
- Total safety score: 70.33
--- Home and community safety rank: 12
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 9
--- Financial safety rank: 52
Jacob Boomsma // Shutterstock
24 / 25#2. Casper, Wyoming
- Total safety score: 71.51
--- Home and community safety rank: 37
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 5
--- Financial safety rank: 3
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25 / 25#1. South Burlington, Vermont
- Total safety score: 74.15
--- Home and community safety rank: 9
--- Natural-disaster risk rank: 6
--- Financial safety rank: 1
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