This North Carolina City Ranked Among Safest In America

NORTH CAROLINA — Cary, North Carolina has earned the distinction of being among the top 10 safest cities in the United States in 2018, according to research by SmartAsset, which reviewed at least 200 major cities.

Most people searching the world over would agree that when families are looking at settling down in a new place, they look at affordability of a new city, commutes and the quality of local schools. But one factor sometimes is overlooked—safety.

To rank the safest cities in America, SmartAsset analyzed 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.

For Cary, SmartAsset touted the city's low crime rate. In fact, Cary ranks among the top three cities when it comes to the lowest property and violent crimes. It also has low drug use, the organization noted.

This is SmartAsset's fourth annual study of the safest cities in America. Here are the top 10 safest cities in the U.S.:

1. Sunnyvale, California
2. Alexandria, Virginia
3. Stamford, Connecticut
4. Honolulu, Hawaii
5. Naperville, Illinois
6. Frisco, Texas
7. Fremont, California
8. Irvine, California
9. Cary, North Carolina
10. Bellevue, Washington

Here are Cary’s ratings for some of the metrics:

• Violent crime rate: 90 per 100,000 residents per the FBI's 2017 Uniform Crime Reporting Database.
• Vehicular mortality rate: 7.9 per 100,000 residents per countyhealthrankings.org
• Drug poisoning mortality rate: 8.1 per 100,000 residents per countyhealthrankings.org
• Population engaging in excessive drinking: 17.6 percent per countyhealthrankings.org
• Air Quality Index: 45 per the Air Quality Index data from the Environmental Protection Agency in 2017.

See the full safest cities ranking here.

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Includes reporting by Patch editor Sue Wood

Photo via Shutterstock