Safety's sake: Firm lists cities by danger factor

    Morgan Quitno, a research firm, publishes an annual list of the safest and most dangerous cities and metro areas in the U.S.  The southeast region appears to be among the least dangerous, relatively speaking.
    Of all 371 cities in the survey, Cary, NC, shows up as the 8th safest.  Cary is just west of Raleigh.  Coral Springs, FL, which is a half hour northwest of Ft. Lauderdale, comes in at #10; Roswell, GA, which is immediately north of Atlanta, is #18, and Port St. Lucie, FL #25.  On the "most dangerous" side, Birmingham, AL, is 6th, Richmond, VA, #15, Atlanta 17th, and North Charleston, SC, #20.
    Of the 344 metro areas surveyed, the safest in the southeast was Harrisonburg, VA (14), the only southeast town to make the top 25.  On the dangerous side, Florence and Myrtle Beach, SC, came in at 5th and 6th respectively, Charlotte/Gastonia, NC at #12, Macon, GA, #20 and Sumter, SC, at 24th.  The formerly overheated housing markets of Las Vegas, Miami and Phoenix all made the top 25 most dangerous as well.
    For the record, the safest town is Brick Township, NJ, and the most dangerous is St. Louis.
    If you want the rankings of all cities and metro areas, you'll need to purchase the report at Morgan Quitno's web site .