Blanketed by security

This DFW suburb ranks as the safest big city in the U.S.

Plano's murder rate is more than 10 times lower than the national average.

No wonder Plano is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country: Among other positive traits, it’s the safest large city in the U.S.

A new ranking from RewardExpert, a free service that helps users take advantage of credit card and travel rewards, shows Plano is the safest city with at least 250,000 residents. RewardExpert based its ranking on 32 safety indicators in eight categories: crime, mortality rates, firearms, motor vehicle crash risks, health risks and health care, economic and financial risks, manmade environmental hazards, and natural disasters.

“Plano scored highly in all measures of safety we considered. Violent crime is very rare for a city of its size, and the murder rate is more than 10 times lower than the national average,” Roman Shteyn, co-founder and CEO of RewardExpert, tells CultureMap. “The wealth of local employers leads to a short drive time to jobs in the region, resulting in low rates of traffic fatalities. And the local environment is relatively uncontaminated due to the city’s recent development.”

In the RewardExpert ranking, Fort Worth ranks 22nd among large cities. Relatively low scores in the firearms and disaster categories weighed down Fort Worth’s overall ranking. The firearms category refers to the number of gun-related deaths and the number of licensed gun dealers.

Dallas ranks 31st among large cities. Low scores in the financial, firearms, and vehicular death categories led to Dallas’ less-than-impressive showing.

Arlington ranks 64th among large cities. It has the worst score in the disaster category and a pretty low score in the firearms category.

Elsewhere in Texas:

Austin appears at No. 6 in cities of at least 250,000 residents, benefiting from strong showings in the mortality, disaster, and financial categories. RewardExpert emphasizes Austin’s “extraordinarily low levels” of unemployment and income inequality.
San Antonio ranks 52nd among large cities. Poor scores in the firearms, mortality, and vehicular death categories dragged down San Antonio’s overall ranking.
Houston ranks 58th among large cities. Dismal scores in the disaster, environment, and crime categories tanked Houston’s total ranking.

In explaining the study’s methodology, Shteyn says, “Threats to our safety come in many shapes and forms. Violent crime statistics are only one factor that determine how safe a city is for its residents and visitors.”

“After all,” he adds, “an American citizen is more likely to be killed in a motor vehicle accident than to be a victim of homicide. Likewise, natural disasters and health hazards are greater safety risks than theft and assault. This ranking is founded on a more robust definition of safety than what crime statistics alone can tell us.”

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Texas shocks as America's No. 3 least safe state in 2026 report

Photo by Hiroshi Kimura on Unsplash

Texas ranks as the 48th "safest" state — out of 50.

While no state is invulnerable, some do more to protect their residents than others. And a new study has declared Texas one of the five least safe states in America.

WalletHub's "Safest States in America (2026)" report examined all 50 states for their emergency preparedness and for residents' personal and residential, financial, workplace, and road safety. Factors that weighed into the rankings include specific crime rates per capita, the share of the population that is uninsured, road quality ratings, workplace injury statistics, and more.

Texas ranked at the bottom of the list as the 48th "safest" state — or the third least safe state. It's joined by several other Southern states, like Mississippi (No. 50), Louisiana (No. 49), Florida (No. 47), and Arkansas (No. 46).

According to WalletHub, Texas specifically ranks third to last in the nationwide "emergency preparedness" category, which was determined based on the prevalence of climate disasters causing $1 billion or more in damages from 1980-2024, and the loss amount resulting from those disasters.

The Lone Star State also ranked 40th (or 10th worst) across three safety categories: personal and residential safety, financial safety, and road safety. The report additionally found that Texas has the highest rate of uninsured residents nationally.

Texas' "workplace safety" was the state's highest-ranking category, landing 30th nationally.

Additional rankings that determined Texas' overall safety include:

No. 30 – Assaults per capita
No. 32 – Fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 full-time workers
No. 32 – Sex offenders per capita
No. 35 – Murders and non-negligent manslaughters per capita
No. 36 – Fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles of travel
No. 41 – Loss amounts from climate disasters per capita

According to the report, the five safest states in America are all located in the Northeast. Vermont leads as the country's safest state in 2026, followed by Massachusetts (No. 2), Maine (No. 3), New Hampshire (No. 4), and Connecticut (No. 5).

Though every state has varying levels of safety, WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo asserted that the safest places in the U.S. categorically invest in protecting their residents. Top-ranking states have low crime rates and diligently maintain their road infrastructure, and other states that prioritize their residents' safety have "strong economies and job markets that prevent people from falling into dangerous financial situations."

"[The safest states in America] have high levels of occupational safety and disaster preparedness, too," Lupo said. "In addition, states are made safer by efforts that individual residents take, such as forming a neighborhood watch or working in firefighting and EMT jobs at high rates."

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