Source: Congressional Quarterly, Inc. (CQPress) and the FBI - November 18, 2007

According to CQPress.com's 14th Annual City and Crime Rankings Publication, Mission Viejo, CA has achieved the honor of America's Safest City. The citizens of Mission Viejo can now enjoy their long awaited honor. After more than 10 years of being ranked as one of the Top 10 safest cities in all the years it has participated in the survey, Mission Viejo is finally and officially THE Safest City in the United States.

Mission Viejo reported no murders in 2006, boasted the nation's lowest rape rate, and has the third-lowest aggravated assault, violent crime, and property crime rates among cities with populations of 75,000 or more.

Joining Mission Viejo at the top of America's Safest City rankings from Orange County, California was the City of Lake Forest, ranked No. (10) and the City of Irvine, ranked No. (11) nationally. Lake Forest ranked No. (8) overall in cities with a population between 75,000 and 99,999. Irvine ranked No. (3) overall in cities with a population between 100,000 and 499,999.

Five other Orange County cities to note that made America's Top 100 safest cities include the following by rank: (26) Newport Beach, (38) Huntington Beach, (40) Orange, (98) Westminster and (100) Costa Mesa.

The methodology used to determine the Safest City Award has been used in City Crime Rankings since 1999. Crime rates are taken from 6 basic crime categories. The categories are as follows: Murder; Rape; Robbery; Aggravated Assault; Burglary; and Motor Vehicle Theft. From these categories, each particular city is measured by a relative formula from each crime category. According to CQPress, the results for each of the 6 crime categories were added together to yield a final score for each city. These scores were then ranked from lowest to highest to establish which cities were safest and most dangerous.

CQPress' survey includes final scores and complete rankings for 378 cities with a population of 75,000 or more that reported data to the FBI for the 6 categories of crime. Any city missing data was disqualified from the competition.

James & Margret Hoppe, Architect / e-Pro / CNAS / Realtors
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage
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