To find the cheapest and safest cities to live in that region, GOBankingRates analyzed the 10 most populated cities in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Lousiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia.
For each city, GOBankingRates calculated the total living costs, including groceries, healthcare, utilities, transportation and rent. Safety scores were based on the rates of property crime and violent crime per 1,000 residents. To qualify for the ranking, cities also needed to have a livability score of 75 or higher out of 100.
Here’s a look at the 25 safest and cheapest places to live in the South.
Methodology: To find the safest and cheapest cities to live in the South, GOBankingRates analyzed cities within the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Lousiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia, plus the District of Columbia. The 10 most populated cities within each state were analyzed for a variety of factors, including (1) grocery cost-of-living index, (2) healthcare cost-of-living index, (3) utilities cost-of-living index, (4) transportation cost-of-living index and (5) miscellaneous cost-of-living index, all sourced from Sperling’s BestPlaces; (6) average expenditure costs, sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey; (7) December 2023 average rent cost, sourced from Zillow Observed Rental Index; (8) livability index, as sourced from AreaVibes; (9) overall safety index, (10) property crime rate per 1,000 residents and (11) violent crime rate per 1,000 residents, sourced from NeighborhoodScout; and (12) total population, as sourced from the U.S. Census American Consumer Survey. The cost-of-living indexes were multiplied by the national average expenditure costs to find the average expenditure costs within each city. All cities needed to have all data points to qualify for this study. The livability index and the safety index were averaged for all the cities, and all cities with an average livability under 75 and an average safety index under 12 were removed, showcasing the places with cheaper-than-average cost of living and safer-than-average crime rates. The expenditure costs, rent cost, property crime rate, violent crime rate and livability index were scored and sorted to show the safest and cheapest places to live in the South. All data was collected on and is up to date as of Feb. 1, 2024.
