City vs. Country: Guess Which Is Safer?

Contrary to what Law & Order has taught you, when it comes to safety you're better off in the city than the country. Time flags a new study out today that compares large US cities to rural areas, and finds that the risk of injury death (this includes everything from car accidents to drownings to shootings, and researchers reviewed almost 1.3 million of them) is 22% higher in rural areas, as compared to big cities. If you're not buying it, Time does temper the finding by acknowledging that homicide risk is higher in cities.

But your chances of being a homicide victim are comparatively slim: An American is 15 times more likely to die from an unintentional injury—and we then refer you back to the city vs. country stat mentioned above. NBC News points out one segment that might not be so surprised by this finding: emergency physicians. "At the end of the day, it's about access to care and how far you are from a trauma center," says one doctor, and on this count, cities typically have the countryside beat. (More deaths stories.)