If you want to live in a city that doesn’t have much violent crime or drug or alcohol use, settling in the Bay Area would be a good idea. Not only is San Jose one of the safest cities in the nation, so are some of its neighbors, including Sunnyvale, Fremont, and Hayward.
SmartAsset ranked the 25 safest large cities in America based on the rates of violent crime, vehicular mortality, drug poisoning, and excessive drinking, along with air quality. San Jose and its suburbs made the list, as did outlying towns outside of Chicago (Naperville, Aurora); Washington, D.C. (Alexandria, Va.); Los Angeles (Irvine, Thousand Oaks, Glendale); Seattle (Bellevue); and New York City (Yonkers, Jersey City, N.J.).
Cary, N.C. has the lowest violent crime rate of all the cities, with only 50 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Santa Rosa, Calif., has the best air quality, and McAllen, Texas, has the lowest drug poisoning mortality rate.
This city near the Mexico border rounds out our top 10 of the safest cities in America. [McAllen] has a population of 140,053 and a violent crime rate of only 108 per 100,000 residents. It also ranks well for drug poisoning mortality rate, percentage of population engaged in excessive drinking, and air quality. McAllen scored in the top 20 in all these metrics.
Advertisement
Related Stories
Market Data + Trends
Vacation and Investment Home Market Insights
A recent report finds that beach homes are the most sought-after vacation-home type, and the investment potential of a second home is an important factor in homebuyers' purchasing decisions
Affordability
How Much Income Do First-Time Buyers Need to Afford the Average Home?
The median-priced home is unaffordable in 44 of the 50 largest U.S. metro areas
Affordability
What Is the Relationship Between Urban vs. Suburban Development and Affordability?
A new paper from Harvard's Joint Center looks at whether expanding the supply of suburban housing could, in turn, help make dense urban areas more affordable