St. Louis ranks dead last among safest cities, and Kansas City is not much better, study finds

Kansas City ranks 162^nd in a new study of the nation’s safest cities based on various factors, including crime levels, auto accidents and natural disasters. Across the state, St. Louis fared even worse, coming in dead last at No. 172, according to WalletHub.

In traffic fatalities per capita, St. Louis ranked 173 out of 182 cities in the study, tied for last place. The city also tied for last in assaults per capita, along with Birmingham, Ala.; Little Rock, Ark.; Detroit and Memphis.

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The report rated St. Louis last based on its low rankings in home and community safety and financial safety. In top rankings, St. Louis tied for first in law enforcement employees per capita. The city also ranked third in the fewest hate crimes per capita.

After St. Louis, the next two overall lowest safety ratings fell to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and San Bernadino, Calif.  Detroit and Baton Rouge, La., rounded out the five most dangerous cities. At the other end of the rankings, Columbia, Md., ranked first among the safest cities in the study, followed by Nashua, N.H.; Laredo, Texas; Portland, Maine; and Warwick, R.I.

Overland Park ranked No. 84 on the safest cities list, while Wichita was No. 140.

The highest natural disaster risk level ranked three California cities as the worst, along with Wichita and Oklahoma City. The lowest natural disaster area was Dover, Del. Another finding in the study examined the percentage of households with emergency savings. Four of the five lowest cities were all in Florida, with Memphis ranking last. Wichita ranked the highest in this area.

St. Louis has experienced other recent reports related to crime concerns in the city. Until the midpoint of 2022, it was ranked first as the murder capital of the nation. The city also earned that designation last year, with 65 murders per 100,000 residents, according to a Rochester Institute of Technology study. New Orleans passed St. Louis earlier in the year in the rankings, with a murder rate almost four times the level of Chicago and nearly 14 times the rate in New York City.

–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice News