Three of the 10 Safest U.S. Cities Are in California

Many of the cities named safest in the nation in 2016 are still safe today -- seven of last year’s top 10 were in the top 10 this year, and the number one and two cities, Sunnyvale and Fremont, California, stayed at the top.

Sunnyvale is the safest city in America for the third straight year, with the seventh-lowest violent crime rate and 10th-lowest property crime rate in the SmartAsset study. Fremont, the second safest city over two years, has the some of the safest drivers, and there are only 178 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, topping 85 percent of the rest of the cities in the study.

Living in a safe environment means more than just a place with little crime. We delve into data on these and other factors to rank the safest cities in America for 2017. We looked at data for the 200 largest cities in the country and data on crime rates, vehicular mortality rates, drug poisoning rates, the percent of residents who drink excessively, the quality of air and the percent of commuters who drive to work alone.

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