(KGTV) - The city of Chula Vista is the safest city in all of San Diego County, and the South Bay town is among the safest cities in the entire country, according to a new study.
The study conducted by WalletHub compared 182 cities across the U.S. and evaluated each based on three key categories: Home & Community Safety, Natural-Disaster Risk, and Financial Safety.
Chula Vista ranked 39th overall among the 182 cities on the list, and it was recognized as the third-safest city in California in addition to being the safest in the county.
WalletHub ranked Chula Vista 17th in Home & Community Safety and 65th in Financial Safety. However, the city only ranked 132nd when it comes to Natural-Disaster Risk.
Even with Chula Vista’s relatively high safety ranking, it ranked towards the bottom in Fewest Law-Enforcement Employees per Capita.
Chula Vista police Capt. Phil Collum called the high ranking “fantastic” for the community, but he acknowledged that the city still struggles with public safety staffing and “there’s a lot more work we could be doing.”
“It’s a really great honor and a recognition of the great work that our police officials do, but equally importantly, that our community does in partnership with our police officials. We couldn’t do it without our community’s support. It requires our entire community to work together to keep our community safe. Everyone has been doing a fantastic job. I’m really proud of what our officers have been doing,” Collum told 10News.
Collum went on to stay the immediate addition of five new officers -- approved by the city council this week -- is a step in the right direction when it comes to increasing staffing levels to meet the community’s needs.
The captain added the passage of Measure A will help police and fire department staffing over the next five years.
According to the study, Irvine is the safest city in California (30th overall), followed by Fremont (33rd overall). The city of San Diego came in at 6th (56th overall) and Oceanside ranked 9th (74th overall) on WalletHub’s list.
The top 3 safest cities in America are Columbia, Maryland; South Burlington, Vermont; and Plano, Texas.
