YAKIMA -- Only 39 metropolitan areas in the United States had a worse crime rate than Yakima in 2007, according to an annual ranking released Monday.

The city’s crime rate, based on FBI crime statistics, ranked Yakima 299th out of 338 metro areas, according to wire service reports.

Wenatchee ranked first among cities in the state for the lowest crime rate and was 71st nationally.

The report was released by CQ Press, a firm that publishes journals, books and electronic media for academic, educational and professional markets, a wire service report said.

The crime rate was calculated using six crime categories: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft. Those categories have been used since 1999 to rate crime in all U.S. cities with at least 75,000 residents, the wire report said.

After Wenatchee, other Washington cities ranked that had crime rates below the national average included Tri-Cities, 91st; Bellingham, 108th; Mount Vernon-Anacortes, 138th; and Bremerton-Silverdate, 174th.

Washington cities above the national average included Spokane, 194th; Seattle-Bellevue, 217th; and Longview, 221st.

-- David Lester