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Seattle Tops List of Safe Cities

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup's annual Crime Poll, conducted Oct. 9-12, 2006, asked Americans to evaluate 16 major U.S. cities as being safe or unsafe. The public is most likely to rate Seattle as safe, while Minneapolis, San Francisco, Dallas, and Boston also receive high safety marks. Detroit and New Orleans are least likely to be rated as safe, along with Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

In this year's poll, 80% of Americans say they consider Seattle "a safe place to live in or visit," putting it above all other cities tested in the poll. Minneapolis is next, rated as safe by 73% of Americans. Roughly 7 in 10 Americans also rate San Francisco, Dallas, and Boston as safe. Houston (60%), Las Vegas (58%), Atlanta (56%), and Philadelphia (53%) are viewed as safe by a majority of Americans.

At the other end of the spectrum, just 26% view Detroit as safe and 28% say the same for New Orleans. In addition to those two cities, more Americans view Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Miami, and New York as unsafe than safe. The public is evenly divided in its views of Chicago, with 47% saying it is safe and 49% saying unsafe.

Percentages Rating Cities as Safe and Unsafe,
October 2006 Gallup Poll

Safe

Unsafe

%

%

Seattle

80

15

Minneapolis

73

14

San Francisco

70

26

Dallas

69

26

Boston

69

24

Houston

60

30

Las Vegas

58

37

Atlanta

56

40

Philadelphia

53

40

Chicago

47

49

New York

40

57

Miami

38

60

Washington, D.C.

35

60

Los Angeles

32

65

New Orleans

28

69

Detroit

26

70

Perceptions that various cities are safe do not vary much by where a respondent lives in the country -- either by region or by urban, suburban, or rural residence. However, these perceptions do appear to be influenced by a respondent's overall attitudes toward crime. On average, those who express greater fear of crime and view the crime problem as more serious tend to rate the cities as less safe than those who are less fearful or less concerned about crime.

The following table shows how the average safe rating across all 16 cities varies by concern of crime.

Average Ratings of Major U.S. Cities as Safe, by Crime Attitudes

Subgroup

Avg. Rating of All 16 Cities

%

All Americans

52

Rate crime problem in U.S. as very serious

45

Do not rate crime problem in U.S. as very serious

61

More crime in U.S. than a year ago

48

Less crime in U.S. than a year ago

64

More crime in local area than a year ago

47

Less crime in local area than a year ago

60

Area near home afraid to walk at night

44

No area near home afraid to walk at night

57

Americans' fear of crime and their city safety ratings are related to household income level. Those living in wealthier households (annual household incomes of $50,000 or greater) tend to express less fear of crime and an average of 60% rate the cities as safe, while those living in households with annual incomes below $50,000 give an average safe rating of 45% to the cities.

Trend Data on Safe Cities

Gallup first asked this question in 1990, and has repeated it several times since. The 80% safe rating for Seattle is the highest any city has received, edging out a 78% rating for Minneapolis in 2004. Seattle and Minneapolis have typically vied for the top spot on the list, with Seattle last topping it in 2000.

Since the last measurement in 2004, there has been a significant improvement in the perception of San Francisco as safe (61% to 70%) and significant declines in the ratings of Detroit (33% to 26%) and Houston (67% to 60%). Ratings of all other cities remained about the same.

The full trend data for all cities is shown below:

Trend Ratings on Safe Cities, Gallup Polls, 1990-2006

2006 Oct

2004 Oct

2001 Oct

2000 Aug

1993 Sep

1990 Sep

Avg.

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

Seattle

80

75

73

76

73

68

74.2

Minneapolis

73

78

77

70

74

66

73.0

San Francisco

70

61

64

58

52

44

58.2

Dallas

69

70

68

62

66

55

65.0

Boston

69

68

66

64

64

53

64.0

Houston

60

67

64

59

63

55

61.3

Las Vegas

58

--

--

--

--

--

58.0

Atlanta

56

58

62

56

59

45

56.0

Philadelphia

53

49

60

50

51

40

50.5

Chicago

47

53

53

44

34

26

42.8

New York

40

44

41

33

20

11

31.5

Miami

38

40

39

31

16

17

30.2

Washington, D.C.

35

37

43

36

29

22

33.7

Los Angeles

32

38

39

29

22

26

31.0

New Orleans

28

--

--

--

--

--

28.0

Detroit

26

33

39

33

26

18

29.2

Other findings of note from the historical data:

Over the years, Americans have increasingly come to view New York and Miami as safe cities. When the question was first asked in the early 1990s, these cities ranked at the bottom of the list. But both showed significant improvement each time the question was asked from 1993 to 2001, before leveling off since then. Even with the improvement, however, more people still view these cities as unsafe than safe.

San Francisco's reputation has also improved greatly over the years. After 44% and 52% of Americans rated San Francisco as safe in 1990 and 1993, respectively, now 70% do.

Like New York and Miami, Detroit showed improvement in its ratings from 1993 to 2001, but unlike those two cities, Detroit's image has fallen back in recent years.

Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. show similar patterns to Detroit, with improved safety scores from 1993 to 2001, but with some decline since then.

Even while the murder rate has spiked in Philadelphia this year, the public rates it as no less safe now (53%) -- and possibly more so -- than in 2004 (49%). However, Philadelphia is rated as significantly less safe now than it was in 2001 (60%).

Survey Methods

These results are based on telephone interviews with randomly selected national samples of approximately 500 adults, aged 18 years and older, conducted Oct. 9-12, 2006. For results based on these samples, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is ±4 percentage points.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

17. Now thinking about some large cities, both those you have visited and those you have never visited, from what you know and have read, do you consider each of the following cities to be safe to live in or visit, or not? How about … [RANDOM ORDER]

ITEMS A-H: BASED ON 493 NATIONAL ADULTS IN FORM A

ITEMS I-P: BASED ON 508 NATIONAL ADULTS IN FORM B

A. Miami

Safe

Unsafe

No opinion

%

%

%

2006 Oct 9-12 ^

38

60

2

2004 Oct 11-14 ^

40

56

4

2001 Oct 11-14 ^

39

56

5

2000 Aug 29-Sep 5 ^

31

65

4

1993 Sep 13-15

16

80

4

1990 Sep 10-11

17

76

7

^ Asked of a half sample

B. Los Angeles

Safe

Unsafe

No opinion

%

%

%

2006 Oct 9-12 ^

32

65

3

2004 Oct 11-14 ^

38

59

3

2001 Oct 11-14 ^

39

57

4

2000 Aug 29-Sep 5 ^

29

67

4

1993 Sep 13-15

22

73

5

1990 Sep 10-11

26

64

10

^ Asked of a half sample

C. Detroit

Safe

Unsafe

No opinion

%

%

%

2006 Oct 9-12 ^

26

70

4

2004 Oct 11-14 ^

33

58

9

2001 Oct 11-14 ^

39

55

6

2000 Aug 29-Sep 5 ^

33

60

7

1993 Sep 13-15

26

65

9

1990 Sep 10-11

18

68

14

^ Asked of a half sample

D. San Francisco

Safe

Unsafe

No opinion

%

%

%

2006 Oct 9-12 ^

70

26

4

2004 Oct 11-14 ^

61

34

5

2001 Oct 11-14 ^

64

31

5

2000 Aug 29-Sep 5 ^

58

37

5

1993 Sep 13-15

52

42

6

1990 Sep 10-11

44

43

13

^ Asked of a half sample

E. Atlanta

Safe

Unsafe

No opinion

%

%

%

2006 Oct 9-12 ^

56

40

4

2004 Oct 11-14 ^

58

36

6

2001 Oct 11-14 ^

62

33

5

2000 Aug 29-Sep 5 ^

56

37

7

1993 Sep 13-15

59

31

10

1990 Sep 10-11

45

39

16

^ Asked of a half sample

F. Dallas

Safe

Unsafe

No opinion

%

%

%

2006 Oct 9-12 ^

69

26

5

2004 Oct 11-14 ^

70

22

8

2001 Oct 11-14 ^

68

25

7

2000 Aug 29-Sep 5 ^

62

29

9

1993 Sep 13-15

66

24

10

1990 Sep 10-11

55

26

19

^ Asked of a half sample

G. Seattle

Safe

Unsafe

No opinion

%

%

%

2006 Oct 9-12 ^

80

15

5

2004 Oct 11-14 ^

75

18

7

2001 Oct 11-14 ^

73

21

6

2000 Aug 29-Sep 5 ^

76

17

7

1993 Sep 13-15

73

17

10

1990 Sep 10-11

68

16

16

^ Asked of a half sample

H. New Orleans

Safe

Unsafe

No opinion

2006 Oct 9-12 ^

28%

69

3

^ Asked of a half sample

I. New York

Safe

Unsafe

No opinion

%

%

%

2006 Oct 9-12 ^

40

57

3

2004 Oct 11-14 ^

44

54

2

2001 Oct 11-14 ^

41

57

2

2000 Aug 29-Sep 5 ^

33

64

3

1993 Sep 13-15

20

76

4

1990 Sep 10-11

11

85

4

^ Asked of a half sample

J. Washington, D.C.

Safe

Unsafe

No opinion

%

%

%

2006 Oct 9-12 ^

35

60

5

2004 Oct 11-14 ^

37

61

2

2001 Oct 11-14 ^

43

55

2

2000 Aug 29-Sep 5 ^

36

58

6

1993 Sep 13-15

29

66

5

1990 Sep 10-11

22

71

7

^ Asked of a half sample

K. Chicago

Safe

Unsafe

No opinion

%

%

%

2006 Oct 9-12 ^

47

49

4

2004 Oct 11-14 ^

53

43

4

2001 Oct 11-14 ^

53

43

4

2000 Aug 29-Sep 5 ^

44

51

5

1993 Sep 13-15

34

60

6

1990 Sep 10-11

26

65

9

^ Asked of a half sample

L. Philadelphia

Safe

Unsafe

No opinion

%

%

%

2006 Oct 9-12 ^

53

40

7

2004 Oct 11-14 ^

49

44

7

2001 Oct 11-14 ^

60

33

7

2000 Aug 29-Sep 5 ^

50

42

8

1993 Sep 13-15

51

37

12

1990 Sep 10-11

40

40

20

^ Asked of a half sample

M. Houston

Safe

Unsafe

No opinion

%

%

%

2006 Oct 9-12 ^

60

30

10

2004 Oct 11-14 ^

67

24

9

2001 Oct 11-14 ^

64

29

7

2000 Aug 29-Sep 5 ^

59

31

10

1993 Sep 13-15

63

26

11

1990 Sep 10-11

55

25

20

^ Asked of a half sample

N. Boston

Safe

Unsafe

No opinion

%

%

%

2006 Oct 9-12 ^

69

24

7

2004 Oct 11-14 ^

68

25

7

2001 Oct 11-14 ^

66

27

7

2000 Aug 29-Sep 5 ^

64

30

6

1993 Sep 13-15

64

24

12

1990 Sep 10-11

53

29

18

^ Asked of a half sample

O. Minneapolis

Safe

Unsafe

No opinion

%

%

%

2006 Oct 9-12 ^

73

14

13

2004 Oct 11-14 ^

78

12

10

2001 Oct 11-14 ^

77

13

10

2000 Aug 29-Sep 5 ^

70

18

12

1993 Sep 13-15

74

13

13

1990 Sep 10-11

66

11

23

^ Asked of a half sample

P. Las Vegas

Safe

Unsafe

No opinion

2006 Oct 9-12 ^

58%

37

5

^ Asked of a half sample


Gallup https://news.gallup.com/poll/25240/Seattle-Tops-List-Safe-Cities.aspx
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