According to polling service Gallup, 72% of Americans surveyed in 2012 said they felt safe walking home at night. This is a slight uptick from 2011, when 71% of respondents said they felt safe.

In some cities, far fewer people felt safe at night. In Stockton, Calif., where Americans felt the least safe, less than half of respondents were comfortable outside of their homes after dark. Based on Gallup’s survey, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 10 cities where Americans feel the least safe at night.

Click here to see the 10 cities where Americans don’t feel safe

Of the 10 metropolitan statistical areas where the fewest people felt safe walking home at night, eight had crime rates above the national rate of 383.6 per 100,000 as of 2011. Among these cities was Memphis, which had the nation’s worst violent crime rate at just over 980 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Stockton, with more than 820 violent crimes per 100,000 people, and Rockford, at more than 700 crimes per 100,000, also ranked high.

However, not all places where people felt unsafe had particularly high violent crime rates in 2011. For example, while residents reported feeling unsafe in the McAllen, Texas, and Yakima, Wash., metropolitan areas, both had violent crime rates below the national rate of 386 per 100,000 people.

In an interview with 24/7 Wall St., managing editor of the Gallup poll Jeffrey Jones explained that has to do with perception. Residents’ sense of safety can often be dictated by how well-publicized crime is in their city, instead of simply the incidence of crime. People are less likely to notice falling crime rates than rising ones, as worsening crime is more likely to receive media coverage.

Based on a review of other Gallup surveys, the areas where people feel least safe at night are less likely to be able to afford basic necessities. In eight of the metropolitan areas, more than 20% of the people surveyed through 2012 were unable to buy food at all times within the past 12 months. In many cases, the figure grossly exceeded the nearly 18% national rate. Included in this were the three metropolitan areas with the lowest percentage of people who could always afford food: Mobile, Ala.; McAllen, Texas; and Modesto, Calif.

All these metropolitan areas suffered from high poverty rates as well. Each of the 10 had a poverty rate above the U.S. rate of 15.9%. In Visalia, Calif., and McAllen, 25.7% and 37.7% of the population, respectively, lived below the poverty line. That was among the highest percentages for all metro areas in the nation.

Not surprisingly, in many of these metropolitan areas, residents are also unhappy with where they live. Nationwide, 85.5% of individuals surveyed by Gallup felt satisfied with the area in which they lived. In Rockford, Ill., just 70.2% were satisfied with the area, the lowest percentage in the nation. Immediately following Rockford was Stockton, at just 70.3%.

To determine the 10 metro areas where people felt most unsafe walking alone at night, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed figures from the Gallup-Healthways Well Being Index for 2012. To determine how recorded crime rates actually aligned with citizen’s opinions of these areas, we also used figures published in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report for 2011. Unemployment rates were obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for December 2012 and are seasonally adjusted. All figures covering poverty rates, education and income are from the Census Bureau’s 2011 American Community Survey.

These are the 10 cities where people felt most unsafe walking alone at night.

10. Beaumont-Port Arthur, Tex.
> Pct. feel safe at night: 58.4%
> Violent crime rate: 545.9 per 100,000 people (46th highest)
> Poverty rate: 17.6% (135th highest)
> Pct. who always had money for food: 79.7% (51st lowest)
> Population: 378,477

According to Gallup, Beaumont area residents had one of the nation’s lowest scores for overall well-being in 2012, ranking behind only three other metropolitan areas. Residents also were among the least likely to be satisfied with where they lived, with nearly 25% stating they were unhappy with the area. Additionally, not only were they among the least likely to feel safe walking alone at night, 12.7% also felt they lacked easy access to a safe place to exercise, one of the highest rates in the nation.

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9. Visalia-Porterville, Calif.
> Pct. feel safe at night: 58.0%
> Violent crime rate: 434.1 per 100,000 people (105th highest)
> Poverty rate: 25.7% (13th highest)
> Pct. who always had money for food: 73.3% (5th lowest)
> Population: 429,668

Residents of the Visalia area have been among the nation’s poorest in recent years. In 2011, 25.7% of the population lived below the poverty line, almost 10 percentage points higher than the United States overall. Among other issues facing the area, Visalia had a 15.1% unemployment rate at the end of 2012, the fifth highest in the nation. Many area residents also are not easily employable; just 69.3% of adults older than 25 had a high- school diploma in 2011. Visalia had 8.9 incidents of murder and negligent manslaughter per 100,000 residents, higher than the vast majority of metro areas measured by the FBI.

8. Modesto, Calif.
> Pct. feel safe at night: 55.9%
> Violent crime rate: 477.2 per 100,000 people (86th highest)
> Poverty rate: 23.8% (23rd highest)
> Pct. who always had money for food: 69.1% (the lowest)
> Population: 510,385

In Modesto, 23.8% of the population lived below the poverty line as of 2011, lower than most metropolitan areas in the country. Many residents lacked the full-time work necessary to afford basic needs; 14.9% of all workers were unemployed at the end of 2012, one of the highest percentages in the nation. Just 46.2% of all residents felt their city was improving, compared to the more than 59% of people who felt that way nationwide. In 2011, there were 6.5 incidents of murder and negligent manslaughter and nearly 135 robberies per 100,000 residents, versus just 4.7 and 113.7 incidents per 100,000 people, respectively, nationwide.

7. Fayetteville, N.C.
> Pct. feel safe at night: 55.5%
> Violent crime rate: 483.8 per 100,000 people (84th highest)
> Poverty rate: 18.6% (107th highest)
> Pct. who always had money for food: 80.5% (61st lowest)
> Population: 360,355

Although Fayetteville’s violent crime rate was far from the highest in the United States, it was considerably higher than the national rate. There were 483.3 violent crimes for every 100,000 residents, compared to 386.3 violent crimes per 100,000 across the country. There were 182.2 robberies for every 100,000 people, compared to 113.7 nationwide. Just over 77% of residents said they were satisfied with where they lived, one of the lowest rates of any metro area.

6. Memphis, Tenn.-Miss.-Ark.
> Pct. feel safe at night: 55.1%
> Violent crime rate: 980.4 per 100,000 people (the highest)
> Poverty rate: 19.3% (87th highest)
> Pct. who always had money for food: 79.8% (52nd lowest)
> Population: 1,304,926

The Memphis metro area had the highest crime rate in the nation in 2011, with more than 980 violent crimes per 100,000 people. The city also had some of the nation’s highest rates for murder and voluntary manslaughter, robbery and aggravated assault. Not only were violent crimes common, but Memphis also had one of the nation’s highest property crime rates. In addition to the nearly 45% of respondents who did not feel safe walking alone at night — the worst percentage of any of the nation’s 50 largest metro areas — 12% noted that they lacked access to a safe place to exercise.

5. Rockford, Ill.
> Pct. feel safe at night: 54.3%
> Violent crime rate: 706.5 per 100,000 people (11th highest)
> Poverty rate: 18.2% (118th highest)
> Pct. who always had money for food: 79.4% (42nd lowest)
> Population: 353,722

Just 70.2% of Rockford residents were satisfied with where they live, one of the lowest rates in the country and below the 85.5% across the United States. The fact that Rockford residents do not feel safe may be justified. In 2012, there were 706.5 violent crimes for every 100,000 residents, compared to 386.3 nationwide. This was among the highest violent crime rates in the country. The state’s robbery rate was 179.8 per 100,000 residents, among the top 20 across the country. The Rockford area has struggled economically due to a multidecade decline in manufacturing. In December 2012, the unemployment rate was 11.1%, among the highest of all metropolitan areas.

Also Read: America’s Most Content (and Miserable) Cities

4. Mobile, Ala.
> Pct. feel safe at night: 51.3%
> Violent crime rate: 608.2 per 100,000 people (29th highest)
> Poverty rate: 19.4% (84th highest)
> Pct. who always had money for food: 71.4% (3rd lowest)
> Population: 411,721

There were 11.3 murders and voluntary manslaughters per 100,000 residents in Mobile in 2011, among the highest homicide rates in the country and considerably higher than the 4.7 homicides per 100,000 across the country. In addition, there were 215.4 robberies per 100,000 people, nearly double the robbery rate across the nation. Mobile also had one of the worst property crime rates. There were 4,807 property crimes per 100,000 residents in the metropolitan area, compared to approximately 2,909 across the United States. Mobile received the third lowest score for overall well-being from Gallup.

3. Yakima, Wash.
> Pct. feel safe at night: 51.0%
> Violent crime rate: 326.7 per 100,000 people (146th lowest)
> Poverty rate: 22.9% (29th highest)
> Pct. who always had money for food: 83.7% (64th highest)
> Population: 243,231

Just over 78% of people in Yakima were satisfied with the city, lower than the 85.5% national rate. Like many cities where violent crime is high, Yakima had among the lowest high-school graduation rates in the country at 71.7% and a high poverty rate of 22.9%. Yet surprisingly, the crime rate in the metropolitan area was lower than the country as a whole. There were 326.7 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in the Yakima area, compared to 386.3 violent crimes across the United States. However, there were 6.5 cases of murder and negligent manslaughter and more than 4,200 incidents of property crime per 100,000 residents in 2011, both well in excess of national rates. The city also had the 10th highest crime rate for cities with populations of less than 100,000 people.

2. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Tex.
> Pct. feel safe at night: 50.0%
> Violent crime rate: 295.4 per 100,000 people (119th lowest)
> Poverty rate: 37.7% (the highest)
> Pct. who always had money for food: 70.7% (2nd lowest)
> Population: 741,152

In 2011, there were 295.4 violent crimes per 100,000 residents of the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission area, lower than the 386.3 across the United States. Residents feel so unsafe in part because it is considered one of the most dangerous border areas in the country. McAllen lies across the border from Reynosa, Mexico, which has become a battleground for drug cartels. It is also the poorest metropolitan area in the country, with a median income in 2011 of only $31,077. Nearly 38% of residents live below the poverty line, the highest rate in the nation.

Also Read: Nine Cities Where Renting Makes No Sense

1. Stockton, Calif.
> Pct. feel safe at night: 48.9%
> Violent crime rate: 821.2 per 100,000 people (3rd highest)
> Poverty rate: 18.1% (121st highest)
> Pct. who always had money for food: 79.3% (40th lowest)
> Population: 674,860

Residents of Stockton felt more unsafe than residents of any other metropolitan area. Inhabitants were not optimistic about the future of the city, either. Less than 35% felt Stockton was getting better, the lowest percentage of any metro area. In 2011, there were 540 violent crimes for every 100,000 residents, close to double the national rate and the ninth highest rate among metropolitan areas. The area had 12.5 cases of murder and negligent manslaughter per 100,000 people that year, the fifth highest rate in the nation. Stockton also had an unemployment rate of 14.1%, among the highest in the country.

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