Ranking It
North Texas cities earn accolades as safest in America
With so many cities in North Texas to choose from, deciding where to put down roots can be a daunting task. Thankfully, a new survey from Movoto is here to help. The real estate blog has already determined the safest suburbs and mid-sized cities, but sometimes you just need to live large.
Using data from the 2012 U.S. Census and FBI Uniform Crime Report, Movoto ranks the 10 safest large cities in America. Only two Texas locales made the cut, and they are both in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Plano landed the No. 4 spot, as researchers praised its virtual lack of violent crime and murder. In 2012, the Collin County city had just 130 violent crimes (per 100,000 people), and none of them was murder. Plano joins Boise, Idaho, as the only cities in the survey with zero murders. "Plano residents had a 1 in 40 chance of being the victim of a crime," the survey reads.
Irvine and Freemont in California and Gilbert, Arizona, took the top three slots. Irving, the other North Texas city to make the list, came in at No. 9.
Irving had just one murder and 226 violent crimes (per 100,000 people) in 2012. If that sounds like a lot, consider that in San Antonio there were about 500 violent crimes and six murders.