Which US city has the most mail carriers bitten by dogs?

(KTLA) — Los Angeles is famous for a multitude of things, including entertainment, food and traffic, but the City of Angels has become notorious for a different reason.

According to the United States Postal Service, Los Angeles leads the nation in dog bites against mail carriers. In 2023, the city had 65 reported dog attacks against postal service workers, taking the top spot over Houston, which had 56. L.A. was second on last year’s list.

Aside from L.A., California cities that were among the top 30 included San Diego (6), Sacramento (16), San Francisco (19) and Long Beach (20).

The list of top 30 cities can be found below:

City	State	2023	Rank
LOS ANGELES	CA	65	1
HOUSTON	TX	56	2
CHICAGO	IL	48	3
ST. LOUIS	MO	46	4
CLEVELAND	OH	44	5
SAN DIEGO	CA	41	6
DALLAS	TX	39	7
CINCINNATI	OH	38	8
PHILADELPHIA	PA	34	9
COLUMBUS	OH	33	10
KANSAS CITY	MO	32	11
INDIANAPOLIS	IN	30	12
MEMPHIS	TN	29	13
LOUISVILLE	KY	28	14
MINNEAPOLIS	MN	27	15
ALBUQUERQUE	NM	26	16
SAN ANTONIO	TX	26	16
SACRAMENTO	CA	26	16
MILWAUKEE	WI	23	17
DAYTON	OH	23	17
FORT WORTH	TX	23	17
MIAMI	FL	21	18
DENVER	CO	21	18
OMAHA	NE	21	18
BUFFALO	NY	20	19
SAN FRANCISCO	CA	20	19
LONG BEACH	CA	19	20
TULSA	OK	19	20
PORTLAND	OR	19	20
DETROIT	MI	19	20

In the state list, California also came out on top with 727 reported dog bites in 2023. That number puts the state more than 300 above second-ranked Texas.

The list of top 10 states can be found below:

State	2023	2022
CA	727	675
TX	411	404
OH	359	311
PA	334	313
IL	316	245
NY	296	321
FL	193	220
NC	185	146
MI	183	206
MO	180	166

The report comes as the USPS starts a weeklong initiative beginning June 2 to spread awareness about mail carrier safety to dog owners.

“Letter carriers are exposed to potential hazards every day, none more prevalent than a canine encounter. All it takes is one interaction for a letter carrier to possibly suffer an injury,” said Leeann Theriault, USPS Manager, Employee Safety and Health Awareness. “The U.S. Postal Service consistently encourages responsible pet ownership. The national dog bite campaign is an effort to promote dog bite awareness to keep our customers, their dogs, and letter carriers safe while delivering the mail.”

According to the USPS, mail carriers are trained on what to do when dogs are in the area.

Some of those lessons include making non-threatening noises to alert a dog of their presence, avoiding startling a dog, refraining from petting or feeding a dog and placing a foot against a swinging door to keep a dog from getting out.

The USPS advised dog owners to lock their animals behind a gate or fence when postal workers arrive at the house or to keep them leashed during walks.

“Even though a customer’s dog is friendly to most people, it can always have a bad day,” letter carrier Tara Snyder stated in the report. “I know, from experience, even when a dog is in the house, customers need to make sure their door is secure so their dog can’t push it open and bite the letter carrier.”