How Safe Are Wisconsin's 2 Biggest Cities: Report

WISCONSIN — Two of Wisconsin's biggest cities earned spots in new report by WalletHub ranking the safest cities in the country.

The personal finance website looked at over 180 cities across America. The report looked past just home and community safety. It also looked at the risk of natural disasters and financial safety.

"Threats to safety in the U.S. come in many forms, from the continued presence of the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters to mass shootings and traffic accidents," said WalletHub's report.

The rankings included the 150 most populated cities as well as at least two of the most populated cities from all 50 states, for a total of 182 cities. WalletHub said it ranked the cities with 42 metrics — including assaults per capita and unemployment rates. The report used a 100-point scale to grade each city, with 100 being the best.

As far as the safest cities in America: WalletHub found that Columbia, Maryland is the safest in the country, trailed by Nashua, New Hampshire and Laredo, Texas. Landing at the bottom of the list was St. Louis, Missouri.

Two cities in Wisconsin earned spots on the list — Madison and Milwaukee — although both landed with vastly different scores.

Here's how both cities scored across all three of WalletHub's ranking categories:

• Madison
  • Total score: 80.92.
  • Overall rank: No. 13.
  • Home and community safety: 15.
  • Natural disaster risk: 89.
  • Financial safety: 49.
• Milwaukee
  • Total score: 66.66.
  • Overall rank: No. 155.
  • Home and community safety: 154.
  • Natural disaster risk: 52.
  • Financial safety: 148.

Check out the full rankings from WalletHub's website.

Kristina Houck, Patch staff, contributed to this report.