[Source: Ofelia Madrid, Arizona Republic] — The Phoenix metropolitan area is considered the United States’ 14th-safest city, according to a recently released forbes.com list. The business magazine ranked the 40 largest metropolitan areas in America, based on four categories of danger. Statistics included 2008 workplace-death rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics; 2008 traffic death rates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; and natural-disaster risk, using rankings from green living site SustainLane.com. Also considered was the FBI’s violent-crime rate from the bureau’s 2008 uniform crime report.
Phoenix-Scottsdale-Mesa finished just ahead of Chicago and Austin. Phoenix metro had the fifth-lowest risk for a natural disaster. Minneapolis topped this year’s forbes.com list as the safest city in the United States, with the online magazine touting the city’s low crime rate. Milwaukee ranked second with the lowest natural-disaster risk and Portland, Ore., ranked third, with the lowest crime rate of all the areas considered. [Note: Read the full article at Phoenix ranks as 14th-safest U.S. city.]
Downtown Voices Coalition 