Fremont Makes Top 10 List of Safest Cities In America

FREMONT, CA — Once again, Fremont has appeared on a Top 10 list of safest cities in America. The list was compiled by SmartAsset, which reviewed 200 major cities on topics beyond crime statistics. More than just being crime-free, a safe city also has careful drivers and clean air.

While danger can take emotional and physical tolls, a lack of safety can affect your savings account too. A bad accident or damage to your property can leave families tightening the budget.

In order to rank the safest cities in America, SmartAsset looked at data on seven factors. Specifically, the technology research company that specializes in personal finance looked at violent and property crime rates as well as traffic deaths, percentage of workers commuting alone, air quality and the percentage of residents who excessively drink or take drugs.

This is SmartAsset's fourth annual study of the safest cities in America. Read the 2017 version here.

The Golden State boasts having three of the top 10 safest cities as follows:

1. Sunnyvale, California:

The data shows that Sunnyvale is the safest city in America. It is rare to see violent crime or property crime here. In each of those metrics, this city ranks in the top 25. Along with that, the roads here are also some of the safest in the country. Sunnyvale has a motor vehicle mortality rate under six per 100,000 residents. For that metric, Sunnyvale ranks 33rd. Perhaps most importantly, there is nothing one needs to be concerned about safety-wise while living in Sunnyvale. The city ranks in the top half in every metric.

7. Fremont, California:

Maintaining its streak of top 10 finishes in this study, Fremont this year is the seventh-safest city in America. Fremont is fairly safe across the board with low rates of vehicle-related deaths, property crime and violent crime. Fremont does not score as well in drug use, excessive drinking and air quality.

8. Irvine, California:

If SmartAsset were assessing the safest cities purely on crime metrics, Irvine would surely rank higher. This city has the lowest violent crime rate in the study and the seventh-lowest property crime rate.

Rounding out the list are:

• Alexandria, Virginia at No. 2
• Stamford, Connecticut at No. 3
• Honolulu, Hawaii at No. 4
• Naperville, Illinois at No. 5
• Frisco, Texas at No. 6
• Cary, North Carolina at No. 9
• Bellevue, Washington at No. 10

In order to find the safest cities in the country, the research firm looked at data for the largest 200 cities, reviewing data for the following seven metrics:

• Violent crime rate. This is the number of violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Data comes from the FBI's 2017 Uniform Crime Reporting Database.
• Property crime rate. This is the number of property crimes per 100,000 residents. Data comes from the FBI's 2017 Uniform Crime Reporting Database.
• Vehicular mortality rate. This is the number of deaths due to traffic accidents per 100,000 residents.
• Drug poisoning mortality rate. This is the number of drug poisoning deaths per 100,000 residents.
• Population engaging in excessive drinking. This is the percentage of adults who consumed more than four drinks of alcohol for women or five drinks of alcohol for men on a single occasion over a 30-day period. It also takes into account those who are consumed in heavy drinking, which is defined as drinking more than one drink per day for women or two drinks per day for men on average.
• Commuters driving to work alone. This is the percentage of the workforce that gets to work by driving alone. The data on the percentage of commuters who drive to work alone comes from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2017 annual American Community Survey.

More information may be obtained here.

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— Patch editors Sue Wood and Bea Karnes contributed to this story; Image via City of Fremont