With a deadly conflict in the Middle East, Russia still waging its invasion of Ukraine and China on the brink of invading Taiwan, the world has arguably not been this close to war in a century.

But while Americans are on the other side of the globe, the US would not be safe from a nuclear war, experts warn.

Russia has an arsenal of more than 5,900 warheads capable of reaching the US in about 30 minutes. At the same time, China has a stockpile of more than 500 aimed at the nation’s west coast.

The nation’s capital ranked as the most highly valued target due to being America’s defense hub, followed by the largest metropolitan area, New York, according to an analysis conducted by 24/7 Wall Street, an independent financial news source.

The group conducted the report using research from Dr. Irwin Redlener, a professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

Redlener previously identified six economic regions that are potential targets of enemy nukes. 

These spots were combined with 15 strategic military targets determined by Stephen Schwartz, who is part of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists and co-authored ‘The Costs and Consequences of US Nuclear Weapons Since 1940.’

Schwartz’s targets include command centers, ICBM bases, and air force and submarine bases.

Members of 24/7 Wall Street then evaluated all the spots, ranking them on population, how prepared they were for emergencies, distance in miles to the strategic military target using Google Maps, and ease of evacuation.

The team then used a nuclear detonation simulator, Nukemap, and dropped a one-megaton bomb to see the damage and casualties.

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