A new analysis of the “Safest Cities in America” in 2024 found only one out of 182 examined is more dangerous than Detroit.
“When people think about safety in a city, their minds probably immediately go to things like the crime rate, auto fatality rate or risk of natural disasters,” said Chip Lupo, analyst for the personal finance website WalletHub. “The safest cities in America protect residents from these threats of bodily harm and property damage, but on top of that, they also help secure people’s financial safety.
“Financial safety includes things like minimizing the risk of fraud and identity theft, keeping the population employed and insured, and combatting homelessness,” he said.
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In an effort to “determine where Americans can feel the most secure,” WalletHub compared 182 U.S. cities across 41 key indicators of safety, from traffic fatalities and assaults per capita, to the unemployment rate and percentage of the population that’s uninsured.
Researchers analyzed the data to produce rankings for individual categories of home and community safety, natural disaster risk, and financial safety, along with an overall ranking that incorporates all three.
The Motor City, Michigan’s largest, ranked nearly dead last overall, coming in just ahead of last place Memphis with a rank of 181st. Detroit ranked as the worst city on the list for financial safety, while it placed 177th for home and community safety, and 100th for natural disaster risk.
Those findings come despite Detroit’s first place ranking – tied with New York and Washington, D.C. – for the number of law enforcement employees per capita.
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Detroit also tied for the most assaults per capita with Birmingham, Ala., Little Rock, Ark., Memphis, Tenn., and Oakland, Calif. Those cities had about 70 times more assaults than Virginia Beach, Va., according to the data.
Other cities widely perceived as dangerous fared better than Detroit: New York City at 123rd and Chicago at 139th.
Detroit also came in last place for unemployment rate, which was six times higher than the lowest rate in South Burlington, Vt.
Michigan’s second largest city, Grand Rapids, fared much better, coming in 88th overall, with rankings of 96th for home and community safety, 64th for natural disaster risk, and 76th for financial safety.
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The findings are only the latest to document the decline in Michigan, and Detroit in particular, over the last six years.
In June, an analysis of the “Best and Worst-Run Cities in America” looked at 148 of the largest U.S. cities across 36 “quality of services” metrics to rank Detroit and Flint, Mich., as some of the most poverty-stricken in the nation.
That analysis ranked Detroit in 146th, and Flint dead last, for “the percent of the population living in poverty.”
The Flint unemployment rate was also the worst in the nation, coming in one spot ahead of Detroit.
Other metrics examined showed Detroit tied with Little Rock, Oakland, Baltimore and Memphis for the highest violent crime rate, and ranked next to last behind Gary for lowest median household income.
It was a similar result from LawnStarter’s Dirtiest Cities in the United States analysis, released in July, which ranked the Motor City second, and Flint in 12th.
“America’s Dirtiest Cities aren’t necessarily full of litterbugs — cities like San Bernardino, California (No. 1), and Detroit (No. 2), primarily deal with polluted air, high levels of greenhouse gas emissions, and records of drinking water violations,” the analysis read.
Other studies have ranked Detroit the second worst city in America for renters, and toward the bottom of a list of 300 “Best Real Estate Markets” in 2024.
The latter included no Michigan cities in the top 50, with the state’s best ranking for Grand Rapids in 53rd.
The August analysis ranked Detroit in 256th, ahead of Flint in 262nd, while other Michigan cities on the list included Sterling Heights in 75th, Ann Arbor in 102nd, Dearborn in 131st, Livonia in 150th, Warren at 155, and Lansing at 171.
Still other research has found Michiganders are “the most financially distressed people in the country,” the state has more underprivileged children than most in the Midwest, Michigan ranks 47th out of 50 states for quality of life, the unemployment rate is increasing faster than the national average, folks are fleeing cities for more affordable states, roads are crumbling faster than agencies can fix them, and 41% of residents are living paycheck to paycheck.