Philadelphia is known for its amazing food scene, rich history and passionate sports fans, but a new report suggests the City of Brotherly Love isn’t among the safest cities in the United States.
The largest city in Pennsylvania ranked 178th out of 182 cities in WalletHub’s “Safest Cities in America” 2026 report, released on Oct 19. Juneau, Alaska, and Warwick, Rhode Island, ranked as the safest cities, while New Orleans, Louisiana, ranked as the least safe city in the country.
But what makes a city safe?
According to WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo, the report considered more than just crime rates when looking at safety.
The analysis examined 41 metrics, ranging from crime and traffic fatalities to unemployment and poverty rates, across three main categories: home and community safety, natural disaster risk and financial safety.
“There’s more that goes into determining a safe city. You could be in the most crime-free city in South Florida, but be subject to a hurricane at a moment’s notice. So we look at things also aside from crime rate,” Lupo told NBC10.
According to WalletHub, data used to create the ranking was collected as of Sept. 21, 2026, from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, TransUnion, Parents for Megan’s Law, U.S. Fire Administration, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Wm. Robert Johnston, Federal Trade Commission, and other official agencies.
Here’s a breakdown of how Philadelphia ranked in each category.
In the home and community safety category, which focuses primarily on crime and related issues, Philadelphia ranked 176th out of 182 cities — its worst ranking among the three categories.
For this category, Lupo said researchers analyzed a variety of factors, including the number of mass shootings, thefts, drug overdoses and traffic fatalities, to name a few.
Lupo mentioned high homicide rates and non-negligent manslaughter numbers as some of the factors that contributed to Philadelphia’s ranking. He also said there is a low percentage of law enforcement employees per capita, which he said is common in high-populated cities.
Last year, NBC10 reported the Philadelphia Police Department was at its lowest staffing point since 1985, when it had 4.25 officers per 1,000 residents, according to FBI data. The ratio dropped below four in the late 1980s and early 1990s but rose again to four in 1995. It remained in the fours until 2021, when it dropped to 3.9. In 2025, the department has 3.2 officers per 1,000 residents.
“If you don’t have enough law enforcement per capita for your residents, that’s going to create a lot of problems,” Lupo said.
Despite the study’s findings, recent data shows that Philadelphia has been making progress in reducing crime.
As of August 2026, the city had recorded 108 homicides so far this year, roughly one-third of the number recorded at the same point four and five years earlier. Overall violent crime is also down compared with last year, according to crime and population data analyzed by the NBC10 Investigators.
To determine overall safety, WalletHub also evaluated the risk of natural disasters. Although this was Philadelphia’s best-performing category of the three, the city still ranked in the bottom half of the list.
Philadelphia ranked 137th out of 182 cities.
While Philadelphia is typically spared from major natural disasters such as wildfires and earthquakes, the city faces a high risk of tornadoes, hail and flooding, according to Lupo.
“Those pop thunderstorms can create some hail risk, particularly in warmer weather, a pretty high risk of river flooding and hurricane storm surge from a nor’easter barreling its way up the Atlantic,” he said.
Lupo said financial safety is often overlooked, but emphasized its importance because it is closely linked to the other two categories.
In this category, which considers factors like poverty and unemployment rates, and health and auto insurance coverage, Philadelphia ranked 159th out of 182.
According to Lupo, Philadelphia ranks high in identity theft complaints and other types of fraud.
“A lot of times, these things do factor into a city’s high crime rate,” he said.
Lupo said the goal of the study is to raise awareness among elected officials about the issues they need to prioritize.
“Safety in general is something in which everyone needs to be on board, and that means transparency between elected officials, law enforcement, and taxpayers and residents,” Lupo said.
He also said he hopes the findings encourage residents to become more involved and feel empowered to make changes in their communities.
“The more residents who are aware of the numbers and what kind of risk their city faces, the more likelihood they’re going to do something about it, whether it’s lobbying your local officials or maybe running for office yourself to try to make some changes to kind of combat some of these safety issues,” he said.
NBC10 reached out to the City of Philadelphia for comment on the study, and at the time of this publication, we hadn’t heard back.
