Detroit is safer and more toxic than you think
Recent Forbes magazine ratings have declared Detroit safer than you might think, but it remains America's second most toxic region.
What's funny about this juxtaposition is that Forbes didn't find Detroit's 12th safest region rating notable for comment. It went unremarked.
Perhaps that is because Detroit was dead last in violent crime. What brought the safety rating up were top 10 low finishes in workplace deaths, traffic fatalies and natural disasters.
Of course, Detroit's industrial legacy hit the Motown region hard, making it the second most toxic city right after the leader -- Atlanta (see interactive chart here).
Detroit's air quality was a little better than expected -- 22nd out of 40 regions. But bottom 10 finishes in the number of Superfund sites and the number of facilities where toxic chemicals are released were too much.
But here's a bright lining -- sort of. Recessions depress economic activity, which in turn reduces the amount of pollution and chemicals released. But the lack of jobs arguably could prove more deadly to residents than the increase in pollution (now much lower than it was 30 years ago) that accompanies economic growth.
