People love to pretend that right-wing politicians and policies of mass incarceration make us safer.

Turns out big cities can have high crime rates regardless of their state's politicians and policies.

Houston's violent crime rate is 1,095 per 100,000 population, compared to 715 for San Francisco.

The crime rate is higher in Houston than Chicago.

Memphis has a higher property crime rate than San Francisco or Chicago.

The safest city in Texas is Plano, with a violent crime rate of 149 per 100,000. The safest city in California (and in the entire US) is Irvine, with a violent crime rate less than half of that.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b...