Miami

Ft. Lauderdale Ranked as Least Safe US City, WalletHub Analysis Shows

Fort Lauderdale is the least safe city in the United States when taking into account home, community and financial safety, as well as the risk of natural disasters, according to a WalletHub analysis.

Fort Lauderdale ranks dead last out of the 182 U.S. cities in WalletHub's analysis. In South Florida, Fort Lauderdale ranks 182nd; Miami ranks 144th; Hialeah ranks 96th; and Pembroke Pines ranks 30th.

The safest city in the United States is Nashua, N.H., followed by South Burlington, Vt., Warwick, R.I., Columbia, Md., and Gilbert, Ariz.

"No one can avoid all danger, however, and we take on a certain level of risk based on where we choose to live. Some cities are simply better at protecting their residents from harm," WalletHub wrote in its report. "To determine where Americans can feel most secure – in more than one sense – WalletHub’s analysts compared more than 180 cities across 35 key indicators of safety. Our data set ranges from assaults per capita to unemployment rate to road quality."

To determine its rankings, WalletHub concluded that 50 points out of 100 – 100 being the highest level of safety – would be allocated to the Home & Community Safety dimension, which includes safety indicators such as the presence of terrorist attacks, forcible rapes, sex offenders, hate crimes, and law enforcement personnel –all per capita and among several other indicators.

The Natural-Disaster Risk dimension, which accounts for 30 points in the score, includes the risks of earthquakes, floods, hail, hurricanes, tornados, storm surges and wildfires. Financial Safety, accounting for 20 points, includes unemployment, foreclosure rate, job security, employment growth, identity-theft complaints and personal bankruptcy filings – all per capita and also among other indicators.

The study also suggests that Floridians have the least funds in emergency savings, as Tampa, St. Petersburg, Miami, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale and Pembroke Pines rank the lowest in that indicator out of U.S. cities.

Two South Florida cities also have the highest percentage of people uninsured – Miami ranks 179th, Laredo, Texas, ranks 180nd, Hialeah ranks 181st and Brownsville, Texas, ranks 182nd.

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