“Discover the Safest City in Florida: A Blend of Security and Concerns”

It may be an attractive state to live in, but how safe are Florida’s cities really?

That’s what WalletHub set out to determine with its most recent study on the safest cities in the nation.

To achieve this, researchers examined over 180 cities, considering aspects such as terrorist incidents, mass shootings, natural calamities, and economic struggles, among other factors.

“Beyond the hazards that can inflict physical harm, other dangers include taking on an unaffordable second mortgage, neglecting health insurance, or falling prey to identity theft,” the study mentions. “A significant concern for many currently is the rising inflation, which jeopardizes Americans’ financial security.”

The specific factors taken into account for the study are as follows:

• Home and Community Safety (60%): Encompasses the frequency of terrorist acts, mass shootings, homicides, rapes, assaults, thefts, the presence of sex offenders, the number of law-enforcement officers, active firefighters, EMTs/paramedics, hate crimes occurrences, sheltered homeless data, safety perception, drug overdoses, traffic fatalities, pedestrian deaths, and road conditions.

• Natural-Disaster Risk (20%): Includes risk of earthquakes, floods, hail, hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires

• Financial Safety (20%): Includes unemployment and underemployment rates, the proportion of uninsured citizens, uninsured motorists, foreclosures, credit ratings, debt-to-income ratios, poverty levels, fraud incidents, identity theft, unbanked households, job security, employment growth, households with emergency funds, retirement plan availability, personal bankruptcies, and the percentage of deeply underwater mortgages.

The top city on the list is South Burlington in Vermont. Close behind are Casper, Wyoming; and Warwick, Rhode Island.

But for Florida, the best-ranked city doesn’t come until much further down: Port St. Lucie at No. 32.

The coastal city scored relatively well on community-related factors, though it lagged behind in vulnerability to natural disasters, and ranked near the bottom for financial security.

In fact, many of the Florida cities on the list fared poorly when it comes to natural disasters and finances.

However, Hialeah and Pembroke Pines — with the latter also being recognized as Florida’s happiest city — performed notably well for community safety, achieving rankings of No. 11 and No. 13 in this category, respectively.

The full ranking of Florida cities is as follows: