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There is no official or evidence-based ranking of U.S. cities by zombie-apocalypse risk. This is a fictional scenario list, not a forecast: its order is an editorial judgment based on how urban density, infrastructure, public-health response, and exposure to real-world hazards could complicate a hypothetical outbreak. The available sources do not support a validated city-by-city score, so the ranking below should be read as a thought experiment—not a claim that these are objectively the 15 most dangerous cities.
How this fictional ranking works
A zombie outbreak has no measurable real-world risk, and the cited government tools do not rank cities for one. The list uses broad scenario logic: a large, connected population could make movement and containment harder; complex infrastructure creates dependencies; public-health planning could help coordinate a response; and natural hazards could complicate evacuation or logistics. These considerations are not combined into a numerical score, and no exact ordering is independently validated.
Geography matters. FEMA’s National Risk Index (NRI) covers 18 natural hazards and maps risk at county and Census tract levels. Its measures include risk, social vulnerability, and community resilience—distinct dimensions, not interchangeable measures of whether residents are “prepared.” The index provides context for hazards, not a zombie-risk leaderboard.
FEMA’s Resilience Analysis and Planning Tool (RAPT) offers more than 100 preloaded layers of population, infrastructure, and hazard data. CDC’s Environmental Public Health Tracking Network includes information relating to hazards, vulnerable populations, medical infrastructure, flooding, and wildfire. These tools can help examine a place’s real-world context, but their different geographic units and indicators do not produce a common city ranking.
#1 Best Overall
- Max Brooks, The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead, paperback
15 cities in a hypothetical zombie outbreak
The order below is a scenario-based editorial construction, not a result calculated from the NRI, RAPT, CDC data, or any official zombie index. It focuses on why a major outbreak might be difficult to manage in each urban area; it does not claim that any city is unusually unsafe in ordinary life. City proper, county, and metropolitan area are not interchangeable, so the list uses familiar city names as shorthand for their broader urban settings.
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New York City, New York
Its exceptionally dense, interconnected urban environment would make rapid movement, crowd management, and access to essential services central challenges in a fictional outbreak. The same complexity that makes a major city function can make isolating an emergency difficult.
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Los Angeles, California
A sprawling metropolitan area with extensive road and infrastructure networks presents a different challenge from a compact city: coordinating movement and response across a broad urban region. Real hazards should be assessed using geography-specific data rather than assumed from the city name alone.
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Chicago, Illinois
A major transportation and population center would make coordination across neighborhoods and infrastructure a key concern in this scenario. The list does not treat a regional hazard profile as a direct measure of outbreak danger.
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Houston, Texas
The scale of the metropolitan area and exposure to hazards such as flooding could complicate logistics and movement during an emergency. FEMA’s county- and tract-level data are more appropriate for evaluating those hazards than a single citywide label.
Rank #2
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Phoenix, Arizona
Heat and the demands of sustaining essential services would be relevant complications in a prolonged emergency. They are scenario considerations, not evidence that Phoenix has a higher zombie risk than another city.
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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
A dense urban environment and interdependent services could make maintaining access to care and coordinating response difficult if ordinary systems were disrupted.
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San Antonio, Texas
The city’s large urban footprint makes distance, transport, and service coordination plausible pressure points in this fictional scenario. The available sources do not establish a comparable city-level outbreak measure.
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San Diego, California
Its coastal setting makes local hazard context relevant to emergency planning, while the urban area’s population and infrastructure would shape response needs. A meaningful hazard comparison requires using the right local geography and current data.
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Dallas, Texas
The broader urban region’s scale and connectivity could make it difficult to coordinate movement and services across a large area. That is a general scenario judgment, not a finding from a city risk score.
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San Jose, California
A substantial population and extensive infrastructure create potential coordination demands in an emergency. No source reviewed establishes how those factors would translate into a zombie-outbreak ranking.
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Austin, Texas
Population growth and regional connections make emergency coordination a reasonable consideration for this thought experiment. The list does not use an official measure to compare Austin with other cities.
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Jacksonville, Florida
Its broad geographic footprint and exposure to weather-related hazards could complicate movement and service delivery in some emergencies. Local flood and hazard conditions vary, so county or tract data are more meaningful than a blanket citywide claim.
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San Francisco, California
A dense urban setting and dependence on interconnected infrastructure could make access and continuity of services important challenges. This is a hypothetical assessment, not a claim about the city’s real-world safety.
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Seattle, Washington
Urban connectivity and local hazard conditions would both matter in planning a real emergency. FEMA and CDC tools can inform those separate questions, but they do not establish a zombie-specific ranking.
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Washington, D.C.
The concentration of population, institutions, and critical services makes coordination an obvious concern in a fictional crisis. It does not, by itself, determine how an outbreak would unfold or establish a precise place on this list.
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What real emergency-preparedness programs can—and cannot—tell us
CDC’s Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI) supports metropolitan-area planning to receive and distribute medical countermeasures during major public-health emergencies. CDC’s 2024 program page says the initiative had expanded to 72 metropolitan statistical areas and frames the effort against the fact that nearly 60% of the population lives in the nation’s largest population centers. Those figures describe the program’s scope and rationale; participation signals planning activity, not guaranteed performance in a fictional outbreak. See the CDC Cities Readiness Initiative.
For the zombie premise itself, CDC’s 2011 preparedness resource explained: “If zombies did start roaming the streets, CDC would conduct an investigation much like any other disease outbreak.” It also said CDC “would provide technical assistance to cities, states, or international partners dealing with a zombie infestation.” These are statements from a fictional, preparedness-themed resource—not a claim that zombies exist or that the agency has a zombie-response program. The resource’s practical point was preparedness for real emergencies: having ordinary supplies such as food and water and knowing how to respond. See CDC’s Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse.
What to take away from the list
The ranking is entertainment, not a reason to avoid or fear any city. For a real-world view of local hazards, use FEMA’s NRI or RAPT at the geographic level relevant to your home, work, or travel, and consult local emergency guidance. For personal readiness, focus on ordinary emergency supplies and a plan for contacting household members and following official instructions; specialized zombie equipment is not the practical lesson of CDC’s preparedness material.
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