In Some Important Respects, You’re Safer in Detroit than Anywhere Else

Sure, your chances of being carjacked in Detroit are greater than in cities with many times greater population, the city leaked population and jobs like a giant sieve during the Great Recession, and headlines about the city’s bankruptcy proceedings paint the city as a pit of despair.

Pfft.

In comparison, this is very, very good news: Detroit is the safest place in the United States to live if it’s natural disasters you want to avoid, according to a ranking by the insurance shopping network, homeownersinsurance.com,

That’s based on an analysis of six categories of weather statistics from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – the weather bureau – by the group, which recently said Detroit comes out “way ahead” in a ranking of the 23 most populous U.S. cities in terms of safety from natural disasters.

The insurance shopping network looked at disasters that included floods, hail storms, tornadoes, wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes and winter storms.

Here’s what the group said about Detroit:

“Detroit came out way ahead in all of our criteria, with only 3 major disaster declarations and four total declarations from the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the last 10 years. Detroit’s position on Lake Huron regulates extreme weather patterns and also subjects it to colder temperatures.

“When there are weather ‘events,’ the most likely are hail – still only 1 in every 4 of them – and flooding (also 1 in 4). Both are products of occasionally intense spring and summer thunderstorms. Detroit residents may have several concerns, but natural disasters don’t top the list.”

The Top 10 safest cities from natural disasters:

1. Detroit
2. Charlotte, NC
3. San Francisco
4. Denver
5. Boston
6. New York City
7. Washington, DC
8. Indianapolis
9. Seattle
10. San Jose