Study: Colorado Springs is second safest city in U.S.

A study by InsuranceProviders.com lists Colorado Springs as the second safest city in the U.S., based on crime rates, natural disaster risk and span of time between car accidents per capita. Arizona and Colorado account for five of the 10 safest cities.

The study looked at information based on three safety factors: crime rate, risk of natural disaster, and driving safety. Crime statistics were compiled from the FBI's Uniform Crime Statistics based on violent crime incidents per 100,000 people. Information from the United States Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was used to determine how likely a city was to experience a natural disaster such as an earthquake, hurricane or flood. Driving data from Allstate was used to determine the safest cities in which to drive based on the average number of years between accidents by drivers in each city.

As expected, being located away from coastal areas made a city safer, mostly due to the lower risk of hurricanes and earthquakes. Crime rates, on the other hand, had relatively little influence on a city's safety rating. While a high crime rate certainly knocked down a city’s safety rating, even cities with the highest crime rates compensated by having low rates of natural disasters and car accidents.

Joel Ohman of InsuranceProviders.com emphasizes that the concept of safety cannot be based on only one factor.

"To determine the safety of a city, it is important to account for a variety of factors," he said. "A city with extremely safe drivers but a high crime rate, for example, may rank lower in overall safety than cities with lower crime rates and less-safe drivers."

Arizona had the most cities on the top 10 list, with Phoenix, Tucson and Mesa ranked seventh, third, and first, respectively. Aurora came in at No. 9.

Report for this study