Researchers Compile List Of Safest, Most Dangerous Cities For Online Dating

AUSTIN, TX — San Antonio is the safest city in the nation for online dating while Austin came in as the 12th safest, according to a new study.

SafeWise and HighSpeedInternet.com compiled the list of 56 cities to see where they rank in terms of how safe they are for online dating. Researchers from both groups teamed up to overlay and analyze the most recent FBI violent crime and cyber crime data along with state-by-state STD rates from the Centers for Disease Control from 2015 in the reckoning.

"The correlations led us to draw interesting conclusions about the dangers of online dating in certain geographic areas and cities," researchers wrote.

SafeWise is an industry leader in home security, describing its mission as one committed to increasing safety education, awareness, and preparedness in American communities. HighSpeedInternet.com assists consumers make informed decisions when choosing an Internet service provider.

In its early stages, online dating was viewed as a last resort for the romantically desperate, researchers noted. Yet as people's lives became more integrated with the Internet, dating websites and apps shook that stigma in making such interactions part of the mainstream, researchers added.

But online dating still has inherent risks attached to it that are often overlooked given the widened acceptance of online dating, researchers said. While caution should be exercised when meeting someone for the first time or even in chatting with someone new online, singles in some cities should be more cautious than others, researchers noted.

To that end, researchers at HighSpeedInternet.com and SafeWise.com analyzed a year’s worth of STD (sexually transmitted disease) and violent crime data, then adjusted it for population to determine a safety score. These scores tell you the cities where you should feel safe meeting people and those where you may want to use extra caution.

The upshot: San Antonio came out on top as the safest city for online dating, with a score of 9.4. New York City came in second at 9.2, with Portland, San Jose, Calif. and Oklahoma City rounding out the top five. Elsewhere in Texas, Austin fared high on the list with an overall score of 8.03.

Here are the vital statistics that made San Antonio the safest city for online dating:

• Total STD Cases: 804 (per 100,000 population)
• Total Violent Crimes: 8,594
• Population: 1,463,586
• Safety Score: 9.4

Along with having the top safety score, San Antonio also ranked number one for the fewest STD cases per capita, with 804 cases per 100,000 residents. San Antonio ranked 17th for violent crimes per capita, but its rate of STD cases was still low enough to put the city in the top spot on this list, researchers said.

Other Texas cities didn't fare as well.

Houston wasn't too shabby in the safe dating list, ranked 22nd with a 7.2 score. As cities fell on the list, a red screen enveloped the bottom half of the list in indicating danger. Dallas didn't emerge unscathed from the red hug, ranking 40th safest city for dating with a relatively low score of 6.17.

Second-ranked New York City was found to have 19,327 STD cases per 100,000 and 50,088 violent crimes in the city with a population of more than 8.5 million. "While the raw numbers of STD cases and violent crimes seem huge at first glance, when you consider the enormous population of New York City, you see the rates for these incidents is actually quite low," researchers noted.

Third-ranked Portland, Ore., (population 632,309) had 6,225 total STD cases and 158 total crimes, according to the findings. "With a stunningly low violent crime rate and the eighth-ranked STD rate, Portland ranks as the third-safest city for online dating," researchers asserted. "Portland had the lowest violent crime rate of any city with just twenty-five crimes per 100,000 residents."

In the fourth position, San Jose, Calif., was found to have 8,755 STD cases and 3,242 total violent crimes in a city of 1.02 million. "San Jose ranked well in both STDs per capita (seventh) and violent crimes per capita (fourth), so San Jose residents should feel safe about the people they meet from dating sites," researchers wrote. "But from what we’ve heard about the cost of dating in northern California, their wallets may not be so safe."

Oklahoma City rounded out the top five list with the following stats: 3,539 total STD cases; 4,828 totl violent crimes; 631,346 population; and a safety score of 8.7. "Despite ranking twenty-ninth for violent crimes per 100,000 residents, Oklahoma City still ranked as the fifth-safest city for online dating due to its low rate of STDs per capita—just 561 cases per 100,000 residents," researchers noted.

By this point, you might be wondering which cities are the most unsafe ones for online dating. SPOILER ALERT— The least safe cities for online dating, in descending order, are: Detroit, Orlando, Knoxville, Tenn.; Riverside, Calif.; and Buffalo, N.Y.

Here are the stats for the most dangerous cities for online dating, with commentary from researchers.

#5 — DETROIT

• Total STD Cases: 27,732
• Total Violent Crimes: 13,616
• Population: 677,116
• Safety Score: 3.9

"Detroit’s reputation as a dangerous city gets support from this data. It ranks second for violent crimes per capita (2,011 per 100,000 residents). The only city with more violent crimes is Las Vegas, Nevada. Detroit’s STD rate didn’t help it much, either: it has the eighth-most STD cases per capita."

#4 — ORLANDO, FL

• Total STD Cases: 17,388
• Total Violent Crimes: 2,340
• Population: 270,934
• Safety Score: 2.8

"The four most dangerous cities for online dating are also the four with the highest STD rates. With 6,418 STD cases per 100,000 residents, Orlando is number four on that list. While fifth-ranked Detroit posed a greater risk for violent crimes, Orlando’s STD rate is so high that its safety score is a full point lower."

#3 — KNOXVILLE, TN

• Total STD Cases: 13,485
• Total Violent Crimes: 1,720
• Population: 185,291
• Safety Score: 1.8

"Knoxville’s violent crime rate is in the middle of the pack, but, much like Orlando, the STD rates are the biggest reason Knoxville is so dangerous for online dating. Again, the large, full-point gap in safety score is significant. Knoxville’s STD rates are 860 cases higher per 100,000 residents than Orlando’s. That’s over 13% higher."

#2 — RIVERSIDE, CA

• Total STD Cases: 25,682
• Total Violent Crimes: 1,384
• Population: 322,424
• Safety Score: 1.6

"Riverside, California is the second-most dangerous city in the US for online dating and the most dangerous in the West. Keeping with the theme of the last two cities on the list, the STD numbers are the driving force of the danger here. In fact, Riverside ranked eighth for the fewest number of violent crimes with just 429 per 100,000 residents. But the STD rate in Riverside is 7,965 per 100,000 residents, which equates to nearly 8% of the population."

#1 — BUFFALO, NY

• Total STD Cases: 20,957
• Total Violent Crimes: 2,887
• Population: 258,071
• Safety Score: 0.8

"The number-one most dangerous city in America for online dating is Buffalo. The shockingly high rate of STDs per capita is 8,121 cases per 100,000 residents. Buffalo residents may not have a lot to do while cooped up indoors for those long Buffalo winters, but clearly some people could use more precaution. Along with the highest rate of STDs, Buffalo also had the eleventh-highest violent crime rate (1,119 crimes per 100,00 residents)."

To see the full rankings, click here.

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