The housing market, job opportunities, tax rates, and the weather are probably on the top of your checklist when you’re deciding to move to a new city. But you should always include safety considerations.
If you’ve decided on Utah for example, did you know that the state ranks third in distracted driving behind Wyoming and Nevada? Perhaps not yet a red flag for keeping an injury attorney on retainer, because Utah is ranked no. 4 with the least fatalities caused by drunk driving with just 0.134 per 1,000 residents.
What about violent activities? A criminal attorney in Provo notes that a more densely populated city like Provo (pop. 117,540) logs a mere 1.26 violent crime rate per 1,000. The top three safest cities in Utah — Santa Clara, Alpine, and Springville — registered a 0.13, 0.17, and 0.45 respectively for violent crime rate per 1,000 for 2019, according to SafeWise.com. The average population, however, for the three cities just exceeds 26,300.
Crime rates and car accidents should be part of your focus when evaluating the states and cities you are moving in to. In addition, you should also find information about natural disasters.
Car Crashes and the Big Picture
Roughly 38,300 people died in 2015, and an additional 4.4 million were injured due to vehicular accidents.
The top five safest states, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are Massachusetts, District of Columbia, New York, Rhode Island, and New Jersey, all states are in the Northeast region. The top five most dangerous states are Mississippi, Wyoming, Montana, Alabama, and South Carolina.
On a 20-year period, Massachusetts recorded just 11.36 fatal car crashes per 10,000 residents, while Mississippi has 47.34. These figures should serve as guidelines when you’re deliberating on your candidate cities.
If you’re headed out west, California also falls in the safest category while Nevada and Utah are classified as safe.
You should also consider trends. Data between 1995 vs. 2015, for example, shows that there is a 16.1% decline in car crash fatalities across the US. Likewise, initial data for 2019 suggests that vehicle deaths are dropping from its 2015 levels.
No Garden of Eden
There is zero chance you’ll find your Garden of Eden city, where you can feel 100% safe. But there are three cities in the US—Hopkinton in Massachusetts, and Ridgefield and Madison both in Connecticut—that registered 0.00 violent crime rate per 1,000 residents. Again, the population is less dense with just 17,000 to 25,000 residents. Compared that to the 2017 national average of 3.829 per 1,000, those cities might just be a piece of paradise on Earth.
Be more resourceful when identifying your cities. Talk to the police authorities and inquire about the peace and order situation in your neighborhood. You can dig deeper and look into crime reports and other statistics.
Nature’s Way or Wrath
If you’re extremely paranoid about being swallowed by the ground beneath you while driving your car or suffering from pyrophobia, then stay away from California. More than 30 wildfires have been recorded so far for 2019 in that state.
And enough movies have been made about earthquakes in California! Detroit, MI, and the Twin Cities of MN might be more to your liking. The “Windy City,” Chicago, Il, wraps up the top three safest from natural disasters cities and states.
Information on road accidents, crime rate, or natural disasters should aid you in deciding on your next city.
