These Are America's Safest Cities for Tourists

Special Report

Published: June 4, 2019 12:30 pm

Last Updated: January 6, 2020 4:05 am

Picking spots to visit in a foreign country is a matter of local attractions, climate, cost of travel, and often restaurants and hotels. The U.S. keeps a list of countries it is not safe for Americans to visit. Similarly, some tourists who come to the United States are likely to consider their own safety.

24/7 Wall St. has put together a list of the safest cities for tourists to visit. By its nature, any analysis of this kind yields the safest cities for anyone to visit, but tourists want to know about amenities like hotels and restaurants, so our analysis covers those factors as well. At the outset, overseas visitors should know that the United States is one of the most tourist-friendly countries in the world.

To provide a guide for tourists who come to America and want to visit the country’s safest cities, we reviewed violent crime levels per 100,000 people, the number of hotels and the number of restaurants.

Place	State	Population	Violent crime per 100,000	Hotels	Restaurants
United States	.	321,004,407	382.90	52,424	553,102
Carmel	Indiana	88,595	18.26	6	158
Johns Creek	Georgia	83,397	29.40	4	80
Edina	Minnesota	50,603	44.30	4	55
Mount Prospect	Illinois	54,493	46.16	3	85
Fishers	Indiana	87,557	46.55	12	57
Buckeye	Arizona	62,090	47.66	N/A	1
Eden Prairie	Minnesota	63,660	49.67	10	109
Alpharetta	Georgia	63,929	50.97	12	158
Port Orange	Florida	60,315	51.70	50	78
Rochester Hills	Michigan	73,458	52.83	N/A	18
Newton	Massachusetts	88,479	54.60	1	19
Weston	Florida	69,802	57.91	4	79
Arlington Heights	Illinois	75,911	58.21	3	85
Flower Mound	Texas	71,575	58.59	2	38
Orland Park	Illinois	59,161	59.09	1	39
Palatine	Illinois	69,099	59.60	3	85
Irvine	California	256,877	61.21	N/A	47
South Jordan	Utah	65,523	62.04	15	109
Yorba Linda	California	67,740	65.32	3	79
Troy	Michigan	83,336	65.41	1	51
Minnetonka	Minnesota	52,102	66.27	3	35
Orem	Utah	94,420	69.67	2	75
Lakeville	Minnesota	61,056	69.89	N/A	29
Maple Grove	Minnesota	68,362	70.46	2	27
Murrieta	California	110,043	70.79	2	107
Wheaton	Illinois	53,577	71.10	2	56
Novi	Michigan	58,835	71.79	2	51
San Ramon	California	75,048	73.37	N/A	31
Brookline	Massachusetts	59,246	75.97	4	108

Tourism is a mammoth business in the United States, and some states and cities rely on it for much of their gross domestic product and a large portion of their workforces. A report by the World Tourism Organization shows that, in 2017, tourist spent more in the United States than any other nation: about $211 billion. Spain and France are next on the list by the same measurement, but their revenue is less than half of the U.S. figure

At the local level, tourism revenue is concentrated in several states. The Council of State Governments research shows the figures are $128.9 billion in California and $90.9 billion in Florida.

Tourism is even more concentrated at the local level. The top tourist destination in the United States is the Grand Canyon. That is followed by Manhattan, Yellowstone National Park, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and Niagara Falls. Obviously, visitors to the Grand Canyon are a more important source of revenue than is the case for Manhattan. The Grant Canyon and some of the other attractions that are of high importance to their state rank as some of the most beautiful attractions in the U.S.