Press Release | Safest Rank Order of 322 Cities | Most Dangerous Rank Order of 322 Cities
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The methodology for determining America’s Safest City and Metro Area involves a multi-step process. First, 1999 city and metro area crime rates per 100,000 population (the most recent comparable final numbers available, released by the FBI in October 2000) for six basic crime categories — murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft — were plugged into a formula that measured how a particular city or metro area compared to the national average for a given crime category. The outcome of this equation was then multiplied by a weight assigned to each of the six crime categories. For this year’s award, each of the six crimes was given equal weight. By weighting each crime equally, cities are compared based purely on their crime rates and how they stack up to the national average for a particular crime category. These weighted numbers then were added together for a city or metro area’s final score. Finally, these scores were ranked from lowest to highest to determine which cities and metropolitan areas were safest and most dangerous.
While this methodology appears rather complicated, it results in fairer treatment because a city or metro area’s crime record is measured against the national average. The farther below the national average, the higher (and better) a city or metro ranked in the final Safest Cities and Metros list; the farther above the national average, the lower (and worse) a city or metro ranked in the final list.
Like last year’s award, all cities of 75,000 population or more that reported data for the six categories of crime measured for the survey were included in the competition. In previous years, the population cut-off for cities was 100,000+ population. There was no population minimum for metropolitan areas. The tables show final scores for 322 cities and 247 metro areas. The results are presented in alphabetical and rank order by Safest and by Most Dangerous. These last two are simply the reverse of each other.
This year, several cities of 75,000+ population did not report complete crime information and thus were not included in the Safest Cities rankings. Chicago, IL and Baltimore, MD were the largest and most significant cities for which data were not available. The other cities are: Aurora, IL; Naperville, IL; Peoria, IL; Rockford, IL; Springfield, IL and Wichita Falls, TX. Specific reasons for these cities' data problems are as follows:
Chicago and Other Illinois Cities: For several years, rape numbers submitted by cities in the state of Illinois have not met the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) guidelines. This remains the case with 1999 crime data. According to state statisticians, the state of Illinois tracks "sexual assault," which includes not only female rapes, but also offenses such as male rape, sodomy, etc. For these reasons, Chicago, Aurora, Naperville, Peoria, Rockford and Springfield once again are not found in this year's Safest Cities rankings.
Baltimore, Maryland: According to FBI information officers, the city of Baltimore did not submit complete crime data reports for 12 months in 1999. As a result, 1999 crime numbers for Baltimore were not included in the FBI's annual Crime in the United States data compilation and are not found in Morgan Quitno's annual Safest Cities rankings.
Wichita Falls, Texas: Motor vehicle theft data were not available for Wichita Falls, making it ineligible for the Safest City rankings. Data are included for other crimes in the tables of City Crime Rankings.
The metropolitan areas for which crime information is shown are those which meet two criteria. First, at least 75% of all law enforcement agencies must have reported crime statistics, and second, the central city/cities must have submitted 12 months of data in 1999. There are several metro areas that did not meet these criteria in 1998 and thus are not included in the report. Most notably, statistics are not available for the metro areas of Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Memphis, St. Louis and Washington.
Press Release | Safest Rank Order of 322 Cities | Most Dangerous Rank Order of 322 Cities
"Missing Cities" | Top/Bottom 25 | Population GroupingsPrevious Years' Rankings | Metro Area Awards | Corporate Information | MQ Home Page