A fifth of homeowners in the Las Vegas area are seriously at risk of defaulting on their mortgages.

Photo by: Jon Sullivan

A fifth of homeowners in the Las Vegas area are seriously at risk of defaulting on their mortgages.

About 1,000 miles of Interstate 40 separate Oklahoma City from Las Vegas. According to a new report, they occupy opposite ends on a gauge of economic security in America’s metropolitan areas.

The Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, ranked the 100 most populous metropolitan areas using four criteria: unemployment, housing price trends, rental costs versus average income and the incidence of serious mortgage delinquency.

Oklahoma City, with a 5.5 percent unemployment rate and a 6.6 percent rate of serious mortgage delinquency, topped the chart as most secure. Las Vegas’s 13.6 percent unemployment rate and 21.9 percent delinquency score was good for 100th place.

The New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island areas placed 74th, with a D. Its middling unemployment (8.3 percent) and home-price erosion (-24 percent) was accompanied by an F in housing affordability and a D for mortgage problems.

Elsewhere in the region, Boston placed 38th, Hartford 45th, Bridgeport 66th, New Haven 68th and Philadelphia 64th.