Study Ranks Casper 7th Safest U.S. City, Cheyenne 34th

A study by the financial website WalletHub ranks Casper as the 7th safest U.S. city.

The same survey ranked Cheyenne as the 34th safest city out of the 182 communities included in the survey.

According to the authors:

To determine where Americans can feel most protected against life’s hazards, including nonphysical forms of danger, WalletHub compared more than 180 U.S. cities across 41 key metrics. The data set ranges from traffic fatalities per capita and assaults per capita to the unemployment rate and the percentage of the population that is uninsured.

The study ranked Casper as the 27th safest community for home and community safety, and 20th for natural disaster risk. Casper was ranked 11th best for financial safety and was awarded a total score of 83.92.

Cheyenne was rated as the 62nd safest community for home and community safety and 97th for natural disaster risk. But Wyoming's capitol city got high marks for financial safety, coming in fourth out of the 182 cities surveyed. Cheyenne received a total score of 79.83.

Overall, the survey ranked Nashua, New Hampshire as the safest city in the United States. St. Louis, Missouri was rated dead last in community safety.

You can see the entire survey here.

2022's Deadliest Wyoming County by Traffic Deaths

While car crashes can occur anywhere, some roads in Wyoming are more dangerous than others.

According to Wyoming Highway Patrol data, there were 117 fatal crashes in the Cowboy State in 2022 resulting in 133 deaths.

Of those fatal crashes, the majority (13.68%) occurred in Laramie County -- two in January, one in February, one in March, two in April, one in June, two in July, three in August, two in September, one in November, and one in December.

Sweetwater County saw the second most fatal crashes last year, 12, while Fremont and Lincoln counties each saw 10.

Albany and Park counties each recorded eight, and Campbell, Converse, and Natrona counties each tallied seven.

The deadliest 2022 crash in Laramie County took place on June 17 when two semis collided on Interstate 80 east of Cheyenne and immediately became engulfed in flames killing both drivers and a passenger.

Laramie County also saw two fatal crashes involving motorcyclists, two fatal crashes involving juveniles, and a fatal crash involving a pedestrian last year.

Below is the Wyoming Highway Patrol narrative of every fatal crash that occurred in Laramie County in 2022.

Gallery Credit: Joy Greenwald