Business

A new report by WalletHub.com has ranked South Burlington, Vermont, the safest city in America. Burlington, Vermont, ranked not far behind as the fourth safest city.The personal finance company compared just over 180 cities across 41 different factors that were grouped into three main categories: home and community safety, natural disaster risk and financial security. In terms of home and community safety, WalletHub said South Burlington ranked first “in part because of its safe roads.””It has one of the lowest pedestrian fatality rates in the country along with the 13th-lowest percentage of uninsured motorists,” according to WalletHub.The report also found South Burlington has the ninth most EMTs and paramedics per capita. According to the U.S. Department of Labor Employment, South Burlington also has the lowest unemployment rate in the country (1.9%). The study also found the city is safe from certain natural disasters like flooding, tornadoes and wildfires, compared to others across the U.S.Jessie Baker, South Burlington city manager, said this ranking is a good sign the work the city is doing is paying off. Its a nice kudos to our community. You know, we have hundreds of staff and hundreds of volunteers who work every day to make this community really, really strong. And I think its a recognition of that work and the shared vision we have for our community,” Baker said.WalletHub said Burlington ranked fourth because of its community safety measures, protection against natural disasters and financial protections for residents. Meanwhile, the personal finance company is shining an additional light on the Green Mountain State, ranking it the safest state in the country. The WalletHub study found Vermont had the second-highest percentage of parents who feel they live in safe neighborhoods (77%), the seventh-most neighborhood watch groups per capita, and some of the lowest levels of crime like aggravated assaults, murders and thefts per capita. Vermont also has the second lowest unemployment rate (2.2%) of any state in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report also found Vermont has “the seventh-best road quality in the U.S. It has the 11th-fewest traffic fatalities per 100 million miles traveled and the seventh-fewest pedestrian fatalities per capita.”