Just How Safe Is Boise, Really?

We all think of Boise as reasonably safe. I know people that leave their homes and their cars unlocked all day. One of them even leaves his keys in the ignition! As a person that values safety, I have a hard time leaving my desk unlocked, so I'm certainly not going to leave my house or car unlocked. Still, if you scan local news sites, you won't find much in the way of violent crimes. These days, it's hard to find any local news story that isn't about COVID.

Amid the pandemic, WalletHub set out to determine the safest cities in America in 2020. While violent crimes were a factor in their rankings, so were financial safety, meaning unemployment rates, emergency savings accounts, and debt to income ratio. They also factored in natural disasters, the number of sex offenders, the number of police officers, firefighters, and the number of COVID cases over the last seven days from the time of the report.

When it comes to financial safety, Boise ranked number one. Nampa, also included in the survey, came in at number fourteen in this category. We have earthquakes, but not very often, so what kept Boise and Nampa from doing better when ranked against the other 185 cities included in the study? COVID-19.

At the end of the day, we can all be proud of Boise and Nampa. Boise was named the number eighteen safest city in America, while Nampa ranked number 50. Read the entire study HERE.