Damming study? Juneau called fourth-safest city in US — due to #1 ranking as safest from natural disasters
- Mark Sabbatini
- 10 hours ago
- 3 min read
WalletHub ranks Juneau 86th for home/community safety and 57th for financial safety out of 182 cities; company says top disaster rating does not factor in record glacial flooding
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
National news coverage this week is proclaiming Juneau one of the five safest cities in America — but perhaps that should be taken with a huge pile of salt to help swallow what may be a watery claim.
Juneau’s ranking is elevated by being declared the safest city in the U.S. — or at least among 182 evaluated — in the category of "natural disaster risk," according to the study released by WalletHub this week. The study also ranks Juneau 86th for home/community safety and 57th for financial safety.
However, the rating omits consideration of record glacial flooding the past three years that has damaged hundreds of homes and is expected to pose a major ongoing threat for many years to come.
"The Natural-Disaster Risk component incorporates long-term risk indices for events such as earthquakes, hail, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, and riverine flooding," Diana Polk, a WalletHub spokesperson, stated in an email to the Juneau Independent on Thursday. "The underlying datasets extend through 2021 for the first five categories and through 2019 for riverine flooding."
"Importantly, glacial flooding is not included in these datasets and therefore was not factored into Juneau's natural-disaster risk score. This omission may help explain the apparent discrepancy between the ranking and the community's recent flood experiences, a hazard outside the scope of the available data."
Polk noted there is a range of other data supporting the assertion that Juneau is a relatively safe city, including "its historically low exposure to most natural hazards."
"In addition to its favorable disaster-risk metrics, Juneau also performed strongly in measures of pedestrian safety and low personal bankruptcy rates, contributing to its overall safety standing," she wrote.
Juneau Mayor Beth Weldon, when asked about the study’s findings before the reply from WalletHub was received, guessed one possible justification for the rating might be "the city protecting the community from harm, so if (that’s) true then I would guess it has to do with the HESCO barriers keeping the valley from flooding."
"Made us all smile anyway," she wrote in a text message.
WalletHub’s study assesses the 150 most populous U.S. cities, plus at least two of the most populated cities in each state, according to the company’s website. A total of 41 metrics are considered in three main categories on a 100-point scale:
• Home & Community Safety (60 points): Includes terrorist attacks, general crime, emergency personnel per capita, traffic fatalities and other criteria.
• Natural-Disaster Risk (20 points): Hurricanes, riverine floods, tornadoes, wildfires, earthquakes, etc.
• Financial Safety (20 points): Unemployment, uninsured residents, poverty rate, home ownership ratio, etc.
The top three cities in the study are (in order) Warwick, Rhode Island; Overland Park, Kansas; and Burlington, Vermont. The least safe cities are New Orleans, Louisiana; Memphis, Tennessee; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Anchorage, the only other Alaska city in the study, ranks 72nd.
Juneau ranked 16th in WalletHub’s study last year. Polk stated the city’s rating in future years may end up taking glacial floods into account.
"Our assessment is entirely data-driven and reflects the most recent comprehensive risk information available at the time of analysis," she wrote. "We stand by our methodology but recognize that local conditions can evolve. As new, validated risk data are released — including any that capture hazards like glacial flooding — we will update our rankings accordingly in future versions of this report to ensure continued accuracy and relevance."
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
