Hometown Safety: Calculating the Cost of Crime in America’s Small Cities and Towns

By: Chelsea Collier Originally Published on Money Geek

After a year of upheaval due to the pandemic, politics and social unrest, many Americans crave normalcy in 2021. Many Americans fled — or dreamed of fleeing — large cities during COVID-19 surges. Seeking respite in America’s smaller cities and towns has its appeal, but how much safer are small towns in reality?

To test the theory that small cities and towns are the safest places in America, MoneyGeek analyzed crime statistics by quantifying the cost of crime and ranking small cities and towns nationwide and in every state. This analysis followed MoneyGeek’s previous ranking of the safest large cities in America.

More than 50 million Americans living in small cities and towns — those with 30,000 to 100,000 residents — enjoy greater safety, according to our data. But some small cities are as unsafe as larger ones, suggesting that factors beyond population size and density are at play.

Calculating the Cost of Crime

Crime takes a toll on communities — not just emotionally but economically as well. In addition to direct costs from loss of property, services for victims and policing and corrections, residents of higher-crime locales often pay higher rates on car insurance and homeowners and renters insurance insurance.

To quantify the cost of crime in smaller cities and towns, MoneyGeek analyzed crime data and calculated the cost of crime in each place. We included data on violent crimes such as murder, rape and aggravated assault, and on property crimes such as burglaries and car theft. Though property crimes are much more common, violent crimes are more costly.

The Safest Small Cities and Towns in America

How safe is small-town America? MoneyGeek analyzed crime statistics and quantified the cost of those crimes to identify the safest and least safe small cities and towns — those with 30,000 to 100,000 residents.

Most of the safest small cities and towns in America are in the Northeast, with the top two in Massachusetts and six of the top ten in New York or New Jersey. The least safe towns are more distributed, with Gary, Indiana, atop the list.

Click here to see the full list

Photo by Brandon Jean on Unsplash