By Mary O’KEEFE

Safewise has released its “50 Safest Cities to Raise a Child in 2019” and Glendale made that list. Glendale was listed as number 50 https://www.safewise.com/blog/safest-cities-to-raise-a-child/ .

The list is composed of 50 cities from 18 states. California topped the list with 14 of the safest cities to raise a child. The top five safest cities to raise a child also have some of the highest median incomes on the list. Three of the safest cities to raise a child were also in the safest college towns in the U.S., including Irvine, according to Safewise.

The study found that on average the violent crime rate in the top 50 safest cities was 1.16 crimes per 1,000 people, which was compared to the national rate of 4.49 crimes per 1,000 people. In addition, the average property crime rate of the top 50 was 14.53 crimes per 1,000 people; the national property crime rate is 27.11 crimes per 1,000.

“We compiled the safest cities to raise a child by analyzing the most recent FBI violent and property crime report statistics. Cities were ranked according to the number of violent crimes (including aggravated assault, murder, rape, and robbery) and property crimes (burglary, arson, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft). By considering crime data alongside sex offenders per capita and graduation rates per capita, we were able to calculate our final safety score,” Safewise stated in its explanation of how they determined the ranking. “Violent crime, property crime and sex offenders per capita were each weighted as 30% of a city’s score. High school graduation rates made up 10% of the score. Scores were then standardized to calculate our rankings for the safest cities to raise a child. Cities were excluded from this list if they fell below the population threshold of 75,000 or didn’t submit a complete crime report to the FBI. To level the playing field, violent and property crime rates were calculated per 1,000 people in each city.”

  Mary Okeefe