Sunnyvale Gets America's Top Safe City Ranking

SUNNYVALE, CA -- This Santa Clara County city gets the distinction of being the safest in the United States in 2018, according to research by SmartAsset, which reviewed at least 200 major cities.

Most people searching the world over would agree that when families are looking at settling down in a new place, they consider the affordability of a new city, their new commutes and the quality of local schools. But one factor sometimes is overlooked -- safety.

More than just being crime-free, a safe city also has careful drivers and clean air. While danger can take emotional and physical tolls, a lack of safety can affect your savings account too. A bad accident or damage to your property can leave families tightening the budget.

Sunnyvale Police Chief Phan Ngo didn't mince words when he attributed the success of the city's safety record to a number of reasons. After all, the South Bay city is no newcomer to the ranking.

Ngo pointed to a "thoughtful, strategic plan," with the help of adequate staffing and programs designed to reduce crime, which appropriately enough in the Silicon Valley include technology. He also cited a team approach to problem solving and "strong support from city leaders and trust from our community that we are able to maintain this status for four years in a row."

In order to rank the safest cities in America, SmartAsset looked at data on seven factors. Specifically, the technology research company that specializes in personal finance looked at violent and property crime rates as well as traffic deaths, percentage of workers commuting alone, air quality and the percentage of residents who excessively drink or take drugs.

This is SmartAsset’s fourth annual study of the safest cities in America. Read the 2017 version here.

The Golden States may boast having three of the top 10 safest cities as follows:

1. Sunnyvale, California:

Once again, the data shows that Sunnyvale is the safest city in America. It is rare to see violent crime or property crime here. In each of those metrics, this city ranks in the top 25. Along with that, the roads here are also some of the safest in the country. Sunnyvale has a motor vehicle mortality rate under six per 100,000 residents. For that metric, Sunnyvale ranks 33rd. Perhaps most importantly, there is nothing one needs to be concerned about safety-wise while living in Sunnyvale. The city ranks in the top half in every metric.

7. Fremont, California:

Maintaining its streak of top 10 finishes in this study, Fremont this year is the seventh-safest city in America.

8. Irvine, California:

If SmartAsset were assessing the safest cities purely on crime metrics, Irvine would surely rank higher. This city has the lowest violent crime rate in the study and the seventh-lowest property crime rate.

Rounding out the list are:

• Alexandria, Virginia at No. 2
• Stamford, Connecticut at No. 3
• Honolulu, Hawaii at No. 4
• Naperville, Illinois at No. 5
• Frisco, Texas at No. 6
• Cary, North Carolina at No. 9
• Bellevue, Washington at No. 10

In order to find the safest cities in the country, the research firm looked at data for the largest 200 cities, reviewing data for the following seven metrics:

• Violent crime rate. This is the number of violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Data comes from the FBI’s 2017 Uniform Crime Reporting Database.
• Property crime rate. This is the number of property crimes per 100,000 residents. Data comes from the FBI’s 2017 Uniform Crime Reporting Database.
• Vehicular mortality rate. This is the number of deaths due to traffic accidents per 100,000 residents. Data comes from countyhealthrankings.com.
• Drug poisoning mortality rate. This is the number of drug poisoning deaths per 100,000 residents. Data comes from countyhealthrankings.org.
• Population engaging in excessive drinking. This is the percentage of adults who consumed more than four drinks of alcohol for women or five drinks of alcohol for men on a single occasion over a 30-day period. It also takes into account those who are consumed in heavy drinking, which is defined as drinking more than one drink per day for women or two drinks per day for men on average. Data comes from countyhealthrankings.org.
• Air Quality Index. This is a measure of air pollution in each city. The Air Quality Index data comes from the Environmental Protection Agency. A lower score is better. Air quality data is from 2017 and does not reflect any changes from the California wildfires of 2018.
• Commuters driving to work alone. This is the percentage of the workforce that gets to work by driving alone. The data on the percentage of commuters who drive to work alone comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017 annual American Community Survey.

More information may be obtained here https://smartasset.com/checkin.

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