The most and least safe cities, according to Americans

Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York rank lowest in a new Gallup survey of cities that Americans perceive as the safest to live in across the U.S.

Only 26% of respondents rated Detroit as safe — about the same percentage that said so the last time the survey was taken in 2006. Twenty-seven percent said so of Chicago (the site of the 2024 Democratic National Convention), which has seen a 20-point drop in the percentage of Americans calling the city safe since 2006. Detroit and Chicago have some of the highest homicide rates, though both cities have recently reported declines in violent crime, while New York has relatively low murder rates despite a well-publicized pandemic spike in crime that may be subsiding. Dallas ranked as the safest city in the poll, despite police reporting an increase in violent crime in the city at the start of the year. Washington, D.C. is in the middle of the pack and seen as much safer than it was in 2006 even as the city endures a major increase in murders. The poll is not exhaustive and does not include some cities with high murder rates like St. Louis and Baltimore.