Eleven California cities ranked among the 50 safest in America in a new report, down from a dozen last year.
Researchers at the personal finance website WalletHub ranked 2026's Safest Cities in America. Fremont ranked as the safest city in the Golden State and the 14th safest in the nation, according to the report. Irvine ranked second in the state, followed by Santa Rosa in third.
Fremont moved up from 27th nationally last year, while Santa Rosa, last year's highest-ranked California city, dropped from 14th to 29th. San Diego saw one of the largest declines among California cities, falling 85 spots from 39th to 124th.
Los Angeles ranked as the least safe city in California, coming in 168th nationwide, according to the report.
The rankings included the 150 most populated U.S. cities, plus at least two of the most populated cities in each state.
WalletHub compared 182 cities across three categories: home and community safety, natural-disaster risk and financial safety. Researchers evaluated those categories using 41 measures, including traffic fatalities, assaults per capita, unemployment rates and the percentage of residents without health insurance.
Each measure was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest level of safety.
Nationwide, Juneau, Alaska, ranked as the safest city, followed by Warwick, Rhode Island, and Overland Park, Kansas. New Orleans, Louisiana, ranked as the least safe city, followed by Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Baltimore, Maryland.
See how California cities ranked, from safest to least safe, below. National rankings are in parentheses.
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