The 17 least safe cities in America

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The 17 least safe cities in America

swat team

Charles Krupa/AP

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  • A new ranking from Wallet Hub listed the safest and least safe cities in America.
  • The least safe cities missed the mark when it came to community safety, natural disaster risk, and financial safety.

Some cities in the US miss the mark when it comes to safety.

Personal-finance site Wallet Hub recently published its list of the safest and least safe cities in the United States, and the ones at the bottom of the list scored poorly in several key areas.

The ranking compared safety metrics in 182 American cities - the 150 most populated in the country, as well as 32 more to ensure that each state had two representatives on the list.

It assigned ratings to each city in 39 different safety metrics, broken down into three major groups and weighted for importance:

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  • The highest-weighted category was home and community safety, including the presence of terrorist attacks, number of mass shootings, and rates of murder, rape, theft, assault, and hate crimes
  • The second most-weighted category was natural disaster risk, including the risk levels of earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, hail, tornadoes, and wildfires (in some cities, data was unavailable in this category)
  • The third most-weighted category was financial safety, including rates of unemployment, poverty, foreclosures, job security, fraud complaints, and identify-theft complaints

You can read more about the methodology here.

Read on to see which cities were deemed the least safe in America.

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17. Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky

17. Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky

Total score: 62.94

Home and community safety ranking: 133

Natural disaster risk ranking: N/A

Financial safety ranking: 28

16. St. Petersburg, Florida

16. St. Petersburg, Florida

Total score: 62.69

Home and community safety ranking: 110

Natural disaster risk ranking: N/A

Financial safety ranking: 122

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15. Las Vegas, Nevada

15. Las Vegas, Nevada

Total score: 62.54

Home and community safety ranking: 167

Natural disaster risk ranking: 96

Financial safety ranking: 152

14. Cleveland, Ohio

14. Cleveland, Ohio

Total score: 62.39

Home and community safety ranking: 162

Natural disaster risk ranking: 54

Financial safety ranking: 179

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13. New Orleans, Louisiana

13. New Orleans, Louisiana

Total score: 61.81

Home and community safety ranking: 174

Natural disaster risk ranking: 31

Financial safety ranking: 162

12. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

12. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Total score: 61.61

Home and community safety ranking: 177

Natural disaster risk ranking: 15

Financial safety ranking: 157

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11. Memphis, Tennessee

11. Memphis, Tennessee

Total score: 61.38

Home and community safety ranking: 173

Natural disaster risk ranking: 85

Financial safety ranking: 173

10. Jackson, Mississippi

10. Jackson, Mississippi

Total score: 61.30

Home and community safety ranking: 161

Natural disaster risk ranking: 137

Financial safety ranking: 175

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9. Los Angeles, California

9. Los Angeles, California

Total score: 60.79

Home and community safety ranking: 165

Natural disaster risk ranking: 149

Financial safety ranking: 130

8. Wichita, Kansas

8. Wichita, Kansas

Total score: 60.39

Home and community safety ranking: 163

Natural disaster risk ranking: 172

Financial safety ranking: 129

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7. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

7. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Total score: 57.73

Home and community safety ranking: 160

Natural disaster risk ranking: 173

Financial safety ranking: 97

6. Detroit, Michigan

6. Detroit, Michigan

Total score: 57.42

Home and community safety ranking: 180

Natural disaster risk ranking: 41

Financial safety ranking: 181

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5. Little Rock, Arkansas

5. Little Rock, Arkansas

Total score: 56.63

Home and community safety ranking: 179

Natural disaster risk ranking: 147

Financial safety ranking: 141

4. Baton Rouge, Louisiana

4. Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Total score: 56.39

Home and community safety ranking: 182

Natural disaster risk ranking: 90

Financial safety ranking: 135

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3. San Bernardino, California

3. San Bernardino, California

Total score: 55.50

Home and community safety ranking: 181

Natural disaster risk ranking: 160

Financial safety ranking: 161

2. Fort Lauderdale, Florida

2. Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Total score: 47.88

Home and community safety ranking: 170

Natural disaster risk ranking: N/A

Financial safety ranking: 169

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1. St. Louis, Missouri

1. St. Louis, Missouri

Total score: 44.47

Home and community safety ranking: 178

Natural disaster risk ranking: N/A

Financial safety ranking: 160