New Study Ranks Cary as Fifth-Safest Town Nationwide

Cary, NC – A new study has Cary as one of the top five safest towns or cities in the United States, while also showing a possible link between safety and public transportation.

Fifth Safest Nationwide

In a new study by SmartAsset, Cary ranks as the fifth safest city or town in the United States out of the top 200 population-wise. The study took all crime statistics into account, as well as data on traffic accidents, drug and alcohol use, air quality and the percentage of residents who commute to work alone.

On just violent crime and property crime rates, Cary ranks highly enough to be in the study’s top 10 towns and cities. In the past year, Cary had 1,100 crimes for every 100,000 residents. Cary also has low air pollution levels and a lower drug overdose rate than more than 80 percent of cities in the study, at 8.1 overdose deaths per 100,000 residents.

Cary is the only North Carolina municipality to make it into the study’s top 25. Ranking ahead of Cary are Sunnyvale and Fremont, California at #1 and #2 respectively, then Naperville, Illinois and Alexandria, Virginia at #3 and #4. Directly behind Cary in the rankings at #6 is Frisco, Texas.

Traffic Linked to Safety

One area where Cary was behind most other high-ranking towns and cities was the vehicle mortality rate. The study showed Cary has a vehicle mortality rate of 7.9 deaths per 100,000 people, which is higher than any other municipality in the top 25 aside from McAllen, Texas.

At the same time, the study noted investment in public transportation in many of the other towns that topped the list. Alexandria, Naperville and Sunnyvale all have significant bus service, as well as commuter rail in Naperville and Sunnyvale.

Other recent studies have also found Cary to be one of the safest towns both in North Carolina and nationwide.

Story by staff reports. Photos by Hal Goodtree and Michael Richardson.