If you’re ready to trade in car break-ins and police sirens for a slice of small-town living, you may want to set your sights on the quaint communities of New England or the quirky architecture mecca of Indiana.
MoneyGeek, a personal finance site, had researchers analyze last year’s FBI crime data of more than 1,000 small towns and cities where the population is between 30,000 and 100,000.
MoneyGeek then used research by professors at the University of Miami and the University of Colorado Denver to calculate the cost of crime in each town. The cost of crime includes direct losses suffered by victims, resulting medical care costs, property loss, the cost of putting a suspect on trial and more.
When all the calculations were done, they found the safest small city in the country is Columbus, Indiana. The city south of Indianapolis had the lowest property crime rate of all the smaller towns and cities and among the lowest violent crime rates.
Violent crime is even lower in several spots in the Northeast, which dominates the list of top 20 safest small towns and cities. Two are in Connecticut, three are in New Jersey, four are in New York and three are in Massachusetts.
But not all small towns are safe havens. Saginaw, Michigan, has the highest violent crime rate of all the small towns and cities analyzed. Atlantic City, New Jersey, has the highest property crime rate, MoneyGeek found. When it comes to the cost of crime, the residents of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, pay the highest price.
In Southern California, only one community cracked the top 20 safest small towns and cities list: Rancho Santa Margarita, located in Orange County. MoneyGeek found that the rate of violent crimes, including murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, rape robbery and aggravated assault, was among the lowest in the Western United States; property crime rates are also relatively low, the data showed.
The 20 safest small towns and cities in the U.S., according to MoneyGeek’s analysis, are:
| Rank | City | Crime cost per capita | Violent crime rate (per 100k residents) | Property crime rate | Total crime cost (in millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Columbus, IN | $22 | 19 | 112 | $1,130 |
| 2 | Wallingford, CT | $40 | 9 | 476 | $1,748 |
| 3 | Lone Peak, UT | $41 | 13 | 279 | $1,254 |
| 4 | Zionsville, IN | $52 | 21 | 279 | $1,704 |
| 5 | Monroe Township, Middlesex County, NJ | $55 | 27 | 227 | $2,647 |
| 6 | Yorktown Town, NY | $57 | 20 | 675 | $1,993 |
| 7 | Carmel Town, NY | $64 | 32 | 307 | $2,170 |
| 8 | Wallkill Town, NY | $68 | 16 | 994 | $2,154 |
| 9 | Upper Arlington, OH | $70 | 14 | 920 | $2,498 |
| 10 | Lexington, MA | $74 | 29 | 294 | $2,503 |
| 11 | Shrewsbury, MA | $78 | 27 | 608 | $3,187 |
| 12 | Wellesley, MA | $79 | 26 | 433 | $2,460 |
| 13 | North Royalton, OH | $85 | 29 | 326 | $2,603 |
| 14 | North Huntingdon Township, PA | $86 | 35 | 611 | $2,746 |
| 15 | Rancho Santa Margarita, CA | $91 | 48 | 433 | $4,201 |
| 16 | Harrison Town, NY | $93 | 23 | 643 | $2,786 |
| 17 | Westfield, NJ | $95 | 16 | 866 | $2,890 |
| 18 | Greenwich, CT | $95 | 24 | 936 | $6,056 |
| 19 | Stafford Township, NJ | $97 | 20 | 1109 | $2,968 |
| 20 | Mason, OH | $101 | 28 | 580 | $3,618 |
On the whole, the country is getting safer from violent crime, the FBI said earlier this year. In an analysis of 2023 data, the FBI found overall violent crime dropped 3% from the year before. Murders and non-negligent manslaughter rates dropped even more.
On the other hand, one type of property crime spiked pretty substantially. Motor vehicle theft was up about 13% in 2023, the FBI found.
The FBI’s nationwide analysis depends on its Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Since not all agencies in the U.S. participate, the data is incomplete. However, it’s pretty thorough. Last year’s reported included data from 16,000 agencies around the country.
