Fort Lauderdale one of least safe major cities in U.S., report says

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A new report released Monday ranks Fort Lauderdale as one of the least safe cities in the U.S.

In WalletHub's 2018 "Safest Cities in America" survey, Fort Lauderdale ranks No. 181 out of the 182 cities listed in the report.

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Home and Community Safety, Natural Disaster Risk and Financial Safety were the three dimensions used in the report, with 39 different sub-metrics also used to create a final ranking. According to WalletHub, each of the metrics were graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest level of safety.

Some of the metrics include number of mass shootings, rapes/murders and hate crimes per capita, unemployment rate, median credit score and poverty rate.

Fort Lauderdale ranked 170th in Home and Community Safety and 169th in Financial Safety, while receiving a N/A for Natural Disaster Risk. It would seem the city would rank low in that category as well.

Fort Lauderdale was not alone near the bottom of the list as Miami ranked just a tad higher at No. 131. Both cities, along with Hialeah and Pembroke Pines, were listed among cities with lowest percentage of households with emergency savings.

Miami and Hialeah were also near the bottom of cities with highest percentage of uninsured population.

At No. 29, Pembroke Pines was the highest-ranked South Florida in the survey.

Columbia (Md.) was ranked the safest city in the U.S, just ahead of South Burlington, (Vt.) and Plano (Texas).

SAFEST CITIES IN THE U.S.

  • 1. Columbia (Md.)
  • 2. South Burlington (Vt.)
  • 3. Plano (Texas)
  • 4. Virginia Beach
  • 5. Warwich (R.I.)
  • 6. Gilbert (Ariz.)
  • 7. Yonkers (N.Y.)
  • 8. Bismark (N.D.)
  • 9. Nashua (N.H.)
  • 10. Boise
  • 24. Cape Coral
  • 29. Pembroke Pines
  • 58. Tallahassee
  • 75. Hialeah
  • 97. Tampa
  • 108. Port St. Lucie
  • 111. Jacksonville
  • 131. Miami
  • 164. Orlando
  • 167. St. Petersburg
  • 181. Fort Lauderdale