If you put together a quick poll of people from across Maine and asked them to name the safest city within state lines, there's a very good chance that Lewiston may get zero votes. Fair or not, there's a reputation that follows Lewiston around and that reputation doesn't scream "safest" city in Maine. But that hasn't stopped several publications from naming it one of the safest cities in America. That includes WalletHub, who just released their annual Safest Cities In America study, which put Lewiston as the 5th safest and Portland as the 11th. Believe it or not, those rankings are actually up from years past.

Facebook via Official City of Lewiston, Maine
Facebook via Official City of Lewiston, Maine
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So how did WalletHub come to this conclusion? Their methodology includes three major factors: Home and community safety, natural disaster risk, and financial safety. There are a number of sub-factors that award points to any given city, which is where both Lewiston and Portland rake in beneficial points.

Lewiston and Portland ranked respectably in home and community safety, which includes things like thefts, pedestrian fatalities, assaults, and other violent crime per capita. Both Lewiston and Portland ranked very high in financial safety however. Factors include things like foreclosure rate, poverty rate, median credit scores, unemployment rate, job security rates and rates of fraud complaints. Lewiston ranked well in natural disaster risk as well. Surprisingly, Portland ranked higher in that category, despite being located directly next to the Atlantic Ocean.

Portland, Maine, USA downtown city skyline at dusk.
Sean Pavone
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So while it may seem odd that Lewiston is ranked the "safest" city in Maine, when you take a closer look at what "safest" means in this context, it's hard to argue. Lewiston is clearly a good place to put down roots financially, with low overall poverty rates and surprisingly solid job security.

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