The five safest cities in North America are all found in Canada, primarily located in Ontario and Quebec, as reported by Numbeo’s city safety index focused on North America.
Canada continues to perform well on the overall list too, with six of the top ten safest cities in North America being Canadian.
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Numbeo’s Current Safety Index by City utilizes crowdsourced information that reflects how residents view crime and safety. This index is regularly updated based on user input.
What are the top 10 safest cities in North America?
The top ten includes almost exclusively Canadian cities from Ontario and Quebec, with only one city from Alberta making it onto the list:
Rank City 1Quebec City, Quebec 2Burlington, Ontario 3Ottawa, Ontario 4Montreal, Quebec 5Guelph, Ontario 6Salt Lake City, Utah 7Madison, Wisconsin 8Irvine, California 9Calgary, Alberta 10Boise, Idaho
All listed Canadian cities have a “High” safety index rating between 60.01-80/100; therefore they exhibit a “Low” crime index.
If we look beyond just the top ten rankings, there are 33 Canadian cities out of a total of 79 North American cities that were considered.
What are the top 10 safest cities in Canada?
The safest ten cities across Canada span five provinces. Notably, two provinces (British Columbia and Nova Scotia) do not appear on the North American list:
National rank City North American rank Safety index Crime index 1Quebec City, Quebec177.722.3 2Burlington, Ontario271.428.6 3Ottawa, Ontario369.330.7 4Montreal, Quebec467.132.9 5Guelph, Ontario566.233.8 6Calgary, Alberta962.137.9 7Halifax, Nova Scotia1260.439.6 8Victoria, British Columbia1360.439.6 9Kingston, Ontario1460.439.6 10Vancouver, British Columbia1757.242.8
Vancouver stands out as the only city here that falls into the “Moderate” crime index category instead of “Low” (40.01-60).
The rankings heavily favor Ontario with four entries while Quebec and British Columbia have two each; Alberta and Nova Scotia both contribute one city each.
Safety index methodology
The Current Safety Index by City from Numbeo is continuously updated and is based on data collected over the last five years.
This data comes from user surveys evaluating personal feelings of safety and perceptions of crime encountered daily in their lives; scores range from 0 to 100 for straightforward comparisons among cities.
Cities need to meet a minimum contribution threshold for statistical relevance before being included in this index.
The following factors are taken into account when compiling this safety score:
General perceptions of crime levels; Perceived safety during daytime and nighttime; Worries about particular crimes such as mugging or robbery; Severity of property crimes like burglary or vandalism; Severity of violent crimes including assault or homicide.
Numbeo’s safety score essentially reverses their Crime Index categorized by these ranges:
Very Low: 20 and below Low: 20.01-40 Moderate: 40.01-60 High: 60.01-80 Very High: above 80
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