SC has 2 of the most unsafe cities in the US, new ranking shows. Here’s why

Patrick McCreless
·2 min read
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Two South Carolina cities are among the most unsafe in the U.S., a new report shows.

Columbia ranked 102nd and Charleston ranked 159th out of a total of 182 cities analyzed for the study by WalletHub, a major personal finance website.

There have been many mass shootings in the U.S. so far this year, which could naturally make Americans feel unsafe. But other concerns, such as lack of insurance or taking out an unaffordable second mortgage could also make people feel less safe and secure.

Some cities are better at protecting their residents from harm. To determine where Americans can feel secure in multiple ways, WalletHub compared 182 U.S. cities across 41 key indicators, including traffic fatalities per capita, assaults per capita, wildlife risk level, unemployment rate, flood risk level, job security, median credit score, debt-to-income ratio and percentage of the population that is uninsured.

The cities were then scored across three categories for the final ranking, which included home and community safety, financial safety and natural disaster risk.

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics and the FBI were used to determine the rankings.

Below is how Columbia and Charleston ranked in the three main categories to earn their final scores.

Columbia

  • Financial safety: 156th

  • Home and community safety: 105th

  • Natural disaster risk: 83rd

Charleston

  • Financial safety: 88th

  • Home and community safety: 149th

  • Natural disaster risk: 165th

Here are other key findings from the report:

  • Irvine, California, has the fewest aggravated assault incidents per capita while Detroit, Michigan has the most.

  • Tampa, Florida has the fewest hate crimes per capita and Cincinnati, Ohio has the most.

  • Washington D.C. has the most law enforcement per capita and Fontana, California has the fewest.

The 10 safest cities in the U.S.

  1. Nashua, N.H.

  2. Columbia, Md.

  3. South Burlington, Vt.

  4. Gilbert, Ariz.

  5. Warwick, R.I.

  6. Portland, Maine

  7. Casper, Wyo.

  8. Yonkers, N.Y.

  9. Burlington, Vt.

  10. Scottsdale, Ariz.

The 10 most dangerous cities in the U.S.

  1. St. Louis, MO

  2. Fort Lauderdale, FL

  3. San Bernardino, CA

  4. Baton Rouge, LA

  5. Detroit, MI

  6. Oakland, CA

  7. Memphis, TN

  8. Oklahoma City, OK

  9. Los Angeles, CA

  10. Washington, D.C.