USA's safest and most dangerous cities ranked, part of a tricky quest

Crime rates are often viewed as the best way to determine if a city is safe, but a recent push seeks to expand the definition of safety.
N'dea Yancey-Bragg
Dec. 29, 2025

When Mayor Frank Picozzi learned Warwick, Rhode Island, had topped a list of the safest cities in the United States, he wasn't surprised.

The charming city on the coast took advantage of federal money handed out during the COVID-19 pandemic to bolster its fleet of fire trucks and police vehicles, part of a yearslong effort to help improve public safety, which Picozzi credits with helping the city rise through rankings.

"We had some areas of the city that were kind of rocky neighborhoods, but by constant policing and economic development, that's not the case anymore," Picozzi said. "People take pride in the city."

The analysis published by WalletHub in October doesn't just take into account crime data, which can be flawed and difficult to compare across cities. It also evaluates how safe residents are from natural disasters like tornadoes, wildfires and hurricanes. Financial safety is also measured by factors like the unemployment rate and the percentage of people living without health insurance and in poverty.

"Too many people don't take this into account when assessing safety," said WalletHub writer and analyst Chip Lupo.

But trying to determine where Americans are the safest isn't an exact science. Amid efforts to find new ways to measure public safety, some experts warn that evaluating public and personal safety may require more nuance.

Pawtuxet Village, a section of both Warwick and Cranston in Rhode Island.

What are the top 10 safest cities?

The top 10 safest cities in the United States, according to WalletHub, are:

1. Warwick, Rhode Island
2. Overland Park, Kansas
3. Burlington, Vermont
4. Juneau, Alaska
5. Yonkers, New York
6. Casper, Wyoming
7. South Burlington, Vermont
8. Columbia, Maryland
9. Lewiston, Maine
10. Salem, Oregon

What are the top 10 most dangerous cities?

The nation's top 10 most dangerous cities (or the least safe of the 182 ranked), according to WalletHub, are:

1. New Orleans
2. Memphis, Tennessee
3. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
4. Detroit
5. Baltimore
6. Fort Lauderdale, Florida
7. Houston
8. San Bernardino, California
9. Philadelphia
10. Cleveland