Texas Border Business
McAllen once again received recognition for something many in the community already know: ranking sixth Safest Cities in the United States by SmartAsset.com. The financial website analyzed a core set of common safety factors to identify and rank the safest cities in America, looking at data from 200 of the largest cities across the following five metrics: violent crime, property crime, vehicular mortality rate, drug poisoning mortality rate and the percentage of the population engaging in excessive drinking to determine the 2022 ranking. Since the last study, crime in the U.S. has continued its upward trend. At McAllen however, crime decreases continued as the city moved up three spots from 2021, when it was ranked #9.
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“I am so proud of our city. These accomplishments are possible only when members of our community, our McAllen City Commission and our employees dedicate themselves to make our community safe. We are especially proud of the brave, hardworking McAllen Police Officers who, not only protect and serve our community and its residents on a daily basis, but also, have kept our crime rate dropping each year to the lowest it has ever been in the past 37 years,” said McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos. “This ranking only highlights what those of us in this area have always known: McAllen is one of the safest cities in the U.S.A.”
Safety is one of the top concerns for many families when picking a place to live. Many Americans have usually looked for low crime and other low-risk factors in order to determine whether a new neighborhood, or even a new community or city, is safe for them.
“McAllen’s continued ranking as a safe city by various websites, as well as the F.B.I.’s own Uniform Crime Report of the crime rate in McAllen, is, in sharp contrast to rhetoric that tends to paint all border cities as unsafe communities,” concluded Mayor Villalobos.
To find the safest cities, SmartAsset compared 200 of the largest U.S. cities across the following metrics:
- Violent crime rate. The number of violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Data comes from the FBI’s 2019 Uniform Crime Reporting Database.
- Property crime rate. The number of property crimes per 100,000 residents. Data comes from the FBI’s 2019 Uniform Crime Reporting Database.
- Vehicular mortality rate. The number of deaths due to traffic accidents per 100,000 residents. Data comes from countyhealthrankings.org and is for 2020.
- Drug poisoning mortality rate. The number of drug poisoning deaths per 100,000 residents. Data comes from countyhealthrankings.org and for 2020.
- Percentage of the population engaging in excessive drinking. The percentage of adults who consumed more than four drinks of alcohol for women or five drinks of alcohol for men on a single occasion over a 30-day period, or who engage in heavy drinking, which is defined as drinking more than one drink per day for women or two drinks a day for men on average. Data comes from countyhealthrankings.org and is for 2020.
The vehicular mortality rate, drug poisoning mortality rate and percentage of the population engaging in excessive drinking are all measured at the county level. Both violent and property crime rates are at the city level.
To find the final rankings, SmartAsset.com first ranked each city in each metric. Then, they found the average ranking for every city, giving each metric an equal weight. From there, they ranked the cities based on their average ranking, giving an index score of 100 to the top city and an index score of 0 to the bottom city.
According to SmartAsset.com, McAllen, Texas is the only top Texan city on the list that is located outside of Collin County. It has the third-lowest violent crime rate, with 85 for every 100,000 residents. McAllen has the lowest drug poisoning mortality rate, with only 3.8 drug deaths for every 100,000 residents. While it ranked high in this study for vehicular mortality rate, with 10.2 deaths for every 100,000, it was the lowest for percentage of population engaging in excessive drinking.
Key findings from the SmartAsset.com study found that 80% of the safest cities are in Texas and California and four of the top 10 safest are relatively affordable, including Frisco, Plano and McAllen, Texas, Cary, North Carolina. Mid-size cities are also safer than larger cities.
“The McAllen community recognizes that a vibrant city begins with a safe city. Public safety efforts have been a collective effort,” said McAllen City Manager Roel “Roy” Rodriguez, P.E.
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McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez credits the low crime rate to the unwavering support of the McAllen community; its elected officials, and the dedicated work of all McAllen Police Officers and Support Personnel.
“Our community strives to prevent crime, to promote public safety and to participate in the investigation of crime when it does occur. At the end of 2021, the City of McAllen recorded its 12th consecutive annual crime reduction and its lowest crime rate in 37 years. To this end, the McAllen Police Department expresses sincere appreciation to all members of our community and to the McAllen City Commission for their diligence and dedication to making public safety the top priority. The McAllen Police Department administration expresses special thanks to the men and women of the McAllen Police Department for their hard work and successful outcomes,” concluded Chief Rodriguez.
Joining McAllen on the list are the cities of Laredo at #13; Round Rock at #14; College Station at #14 and Brownsville at #16.
Follow the link Below for further information:
https://smartasset.com/data-studies/safest-cities-in-america-2022
