McKinney and Frisco are getting quite a reputation. In a good way.
On the heels of being named in the top 10 U.S. suburbs to buy a home, both cities are ranked among the safest places to live in America.
McKinney ranked second safest among all U.S. cities in a recent study by GoodHire, trailing Cary, North Carolina. Frisco fared well at No. 4 in the study, which used crime data from the FBI to create the rankings.
The information reviewed by GoodHire, a background screening company, ranked each city by its rate of property, violent and society crime per 1,000 people. The data then assigned a rank that weighted crimes against people and property at 40% and crimes against society at 20%.
McKinney Mayor George Fuller credits the city’s first responders for their spot on the list.
“Our police and fire departments are the best in the country,” Fuller said. “We are truly blessed to have them serving our community.”
Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney said public safety is always a concern, especially when looking for a place to relocate.
“That’s the number one thing people evaluate before moving here,” Cheney said.
Frisco has spent a major portion of the city’s budget on public safety, including building an emergency operations center, mobile command center and implementing the Situational Awareness For Emergency Response (SAFER) program that gives emergency personnel immediate access to school building information including real-time video while heading to campus emergencies.
“All of these are long-term investments,” Cheney said.
Each of the 100 cities in the study, which were selected because of their large population size, received a score up to 100 with the safest city in America receiving the lowest score.
The big winner, Cary, North Carolina, scored 1.2 out of 100. McKinney landed the No. 2 spot with a 4.2 followed by St. Paul, Minnesota at 6.6, Frisco at 7 and Sterling Heights, Michigan, rounding out the top five with a 7.4.
Texas fared well in the study, with three other cities in the top 10 — Pearland at No. 6, El Paso ranking No. 9 and Laredo as the 10th safest city in the nation.
On the other end, Salt Lake City ranked as the least safe city in America with a score of 94.8. One Texas city also fared poorly — Lubbock with a score of 84.4.
The study breaks down the data further by grouping cities by large, midsize and small according to population. On that list, McKinney and Frisco rank No. 1 and No. 2 respectively for the safest midsize cities while Grand Prairie and Garland ranked sixth and eighth.
Large cities on the top 10 list in Texas were El Paso (No. 2), Laredo (No. 3), Plano (No. 4) and Fort Worth (No. 7). Two other Texas cities, Pearland (No. 3) and Richardson (No. 6), made the cut for safest small cities.
Earlier this year, SmartAsset, a financial technology company, named Frisco the safest city in America with neighboring McKinney taking second place.
In that study, SmartAsset also analyzed data from the FBI but included traffic accident deaths, drug poisoning deaths and the percent of population engaging in excessive drinking.
