The 10 Safest Cities In America For 2024
We used Saturday Night Science to determine the cities in America where everyone sleeps safe and sound.
We all want the finer things in life. Love, comfort, and safety are at the top of everyone's list.
For a lot of people who live in America, safety isn't a problem, but we don't all get to live in the safest cities -- unless, of course, you live in Naperville.
The purpose of this post is to determine where the safest cities to live are in America. We used Saturday Night Science to compare the most recent FBI crime data on crimes per capita across large cities.
After analyzing 312 cities in the United States with a population of more than 100,000, we came up with this list of the safest cities in America for 2024.
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Richest Cities In The US For 2024
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your city ranked. We have a long infographic to show you individual crime data for each of the safest cities.
If that's not up your alley, for more reading on safe places to live, check out:
The 10 Safest Cities In The United States
/10
Population: 148,929
Rank Last Year: 2 (Up 1)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 52 (2nd safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 813 (7th safest)
More on Naperville: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living
Welcome to Naperville. One heck of a safe and quiet place. The number of violent and property crimes is just about as low as you can get for a city this big - where you have a 1 in 1,300 chance of being the victim of a major crime.
Naperville is a Chicago suburb. But this ain't nothin like Chicago. Noooo. In Chicago, 1,400 people got shot last year. In Naperville, there were half as many car break-ins, last year, let alone people getting shot. In Chicago, your kids have to run home from school every day.
You can bet that if a missing dog, a little old lady, or even Kathy Griffin needed help in Naperville, someone would lend a helping hand, no matter what. That's the type of place this is.
2. Fishers, IN
/10
Population: 102,921
Rank Last Year: -
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 77 (6th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 750 (3rd safest)
More on Fishers: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living
If you're thinking of moving to America and safety is a top priority, then you can't do much better than Fishers -- the 2nd safest in America.
Fishers is the kind of place that old timers talk about longingly -- where kids can run around during the day without adult supervision and you can leave your front door unlocked.
You only had a 1 in 133.3 chance of being the victim of a property crime in Fishers.
/10
Population: 101,670
Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 2)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 64 (4th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 807 (6th safest)
More on Carmel: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living
You might not post on Facebook that much, but now's a time to change that. Be proud that Carmel ranks as the 3rd safest city in America.
Go on. With all the negativity on Facebook all the time now, this is great news for Carmel.
We'll wait here safe and sound.
/10
Population: 125,585
Rank Last Year: 18 (Up 14)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 94 (11th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 851 (8th safest)
More on Simi Valley: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living
This gem of a place boasts the 8th best property crime rate and 11th best violent crime rate for 2019.
/10
Population: 108,218
Rank Last Year: 7 (Up 2)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 97 (12th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 920 (10th safest)
More on Allen: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living
Welcome to Allen, Texas, the 5th safest city in America. So peaceful/ Allen is another Dallas suburb. It's basically right next door to Frisco. Here, you have a 1 in 1,200 chance of being the victim of some sort of crime. When someone gets rubbed out here, it's like a huge deal. There's only been five people wiped out here since 2002.
In Allen, neighbors support their local sports teams. People pitch in to help one another. And you can bet that residents in Allen are proud of their accomplishments. You and I have to worry about all sorts of stuff people in Allen don't. You know, like having our car stolen when we're at the club. Or, getting beat up because we talked to the wrong girl.
Seems like Allen is just the opposite of that lifestyle. If you live there, consider yourself lucky!
/10
Population: 228,855
Rank Last Year: 10 (Up 4)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 116 (18th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 761 (5th safest)
More on Port St. Lucie: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living
Everyone is trying to get in on the quality of life in Port St. Lucie, the 6th safest city in America.
The town of some 228,000 people will have to try and continue to keep Port St. Lucie a secret, lest crime starts going up simply because of people breaking down the doors to get into town.
See what we did there Port St. Lucie?
/10
Population: 124,862
Rank Last Year: 3 (Down 4)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 57 (3rd safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 1,106 (22nd safest)
More on Thousand Oaks: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living
Thousand Oaks certainly has a reason to feel safe. We could make a thousand jokes about how safe Thousand Oaks is. But I will say for perspective, in nearby Los Angeles, you'd have a 1 in 131 chance of being the victim of a bad crime. Here in Thousand Oaks, your chances would be faaaar less - closer to 1 in 750.
Plus, if you lived in LA, you'd probably have bad guys for your neighbors.
Crime has been steadily falling in Thousand Oaks for the past few years, too, which puts it towards the bottom when it comes to the number of crimes that take place here. This is certainly the type of place where you can sleep well at night. However, we have to talk about what happened here in 2018 when a man went into the Borderline Bar and Grill and wiped out 12 patrons. That was in Thousand Oaks. If it wasn't for that, Thousand Oaks would be in the top 3 on our list. It was considered a truly random crime.
/10
Population: 109,660
Rank Last Year: 12 (Up 5)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 105 (14th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 983 (11th safest)
More on Concord: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living
The eighth safest city in America for 2019 goes to Concord. Let's see why.
There were only 116 violent crimes here last year -- which is basically 0 for the average citizen. And there were only 1,079 property crimes to boot.
/10
Population: 178,600
Rank Last Year: 4 (Down 5)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 79 (7th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 1,105 (21st safest)
More on Cary: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living
Cary, North Carolina? Now, since I live so close, I figured I might as well investigate and see what's going on and why Cary is so safe.
Cary is quite a gem. And so safe. You have only a 1 in 1,500 chance of being the victim of a major crime when you live here. There's been 8 murders here since 2002, which is very low for a city that's nearly 200,000 in population. You have only a 1 in 93 chance of being robbed here. For comparison, in Memphis, Tennessee, America's most dangerous city, you have a 1 in 30 chance of being robbed every year. That's three times higher.
You hardly ever see a Cary police car driving around. We spotted two sitting in a vacant lot for some reason.
As you drive through Cary, it seems safe enough. The supermarket looks safe. The laundromat feels safe. So does the pottery place. The African and Caribbean Market? Safe. Walmart feels safe. Even the Park N Shop looks safe. The mall is...empty. People in Cary must be Prime members or something.
The thing about Cary that is annoying is the people here are pretty rude, snobby and self entitled. They're mostly wealthy, and come from the northeast - places like New York, Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Draw your own conclusions.
Statistically, the number of crimes that happen in this Raleigh suburb is off the charts low. Like, nothing ever happens here but peace and quiet low. Is it boring? Perhaps. But can you leave your door unlocked at night? You betcha.
/10
Population: 132,522
Rank Last Year: 17 (Up 8)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 140 (26th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 630 (2nd safest)
More on Meridian: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living
And just making it into the top ten for 2024 is Meridian.
But we know they don't take this spot for granted -- Meridian residents can attest that their home town deserves to be the on list.
In total, there were 186 violent crimes and 836 property crimes in Meridian; that's really good for a place of 132,000 people and definitely something to be happy about looking forward into the New Year.
Breaking Down Crime In The Safest And Most Dangerous Cities In America
How we calculated the safest cities in America
While there are surveys and public polls on the safest cities in a state, we wanted to rely on something other than speculation and opinion. Instead, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the hard numbers from the FBI's most recent report of crime (Sept 2023). Specifically, we analyzed the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, which summarizes the number of property crimes and violent crimes in each city per year. We used two criteria:
- Violent crimes per capita (murders, assaults, rapes, armed robberies)
- Property crimes per capita (thefts, burglaries, motor vehicle thefts)
For example, there were a total of 1290 crimes committed in Naperville which had a reported population of 148,929. That means the number of crimes per capita is 0.0087, which translates into a 1 in 115 chance of being the victim of a crime.
We only looked at cities that have populations of more than 100,000 people reported to the FBI in 2022. This left us with a total of 312 of the biggest cities in America to rank.
We ranked each city for each criteria from 1 to 312 where 1 in any particular category is the safest.
Next, we averaged each place's two criteria to create a Safety Index. We crowned the place with the lowest overall Safety Score, "The Safest Place In America."
The safest city, based on our criteria, is Naperville. The most dangerous city in America? Memphis, where residents had a 1 in 10 chance of being the victim of a crime.
We updated this report for 2024. This is our tenth time ranking the safest cities in America.
Summary: The Safest Cities In The USA
Looking at the data, you can tell that Naperville is as safe as they come, according to science and data.
The safest cities in the United States are Naperville, IL, Fishers, IN, Carmel, IN, Simi Valley, CA, Allen, TX, Port St. Lucie, FL, Thousand Oaks, CA, Concord, NC, Cary, NC, and Meridian, ID.
But as most people would agree, almost every place here has its safe and not safe parts. So just make sure you're informed ahead of time.
Here's a look at the most dangerous cities in America according to the data:
- Memphis
- Tacoma
- Pueblo
Safest Cities In The United States For 2024
| Rank | City | Population | Violent Crimes Per 100k | Property Crimes Per 100k | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Naperville, IL | 148,929 | 52 | 813 | |||||
| Fishers, IN | 102,921 | 77 | 750 | ||||||
| 3 | Carmel, IN | 101,670 | 64 | 807 | |||||
| 4 | Simi Valley, CA | 125,585 | 94 | 851 | |||||
| 5 | Allen, TX | 108,218 | 97 | 920 | |||||
| 6 | Port St. Lucie, FL | 228,855 | 116 | 761 | |||||
| 7 | Thousand Oaks, CA | 124,862 | 57 | 1,106 | |||||
| 8 | Concord, NC | 109,660 | 105 | 983 | |||||
| 9 | Cary, NC | 178,600 | 79 | 1,105 | |||||
| 10 | Meridian, ID | 132,522 | 140 | 630 | |||||
| 11 | Gilbert, AZ | 277,123 | 116 | 1,016 | |||||
| 12 | Mckinney, TX | 208,415 | 114 | 1,037 | |||||
| 13 | Cape Coral, FL | 199,503 | 127 | 1,067 | |||||
| 14 | League City, TX | 116,511 | 108 | 1,284 | |||||
| 15 | Coral Springs, FL | 135,027 | 121 | 1,232 | |||||
| 16 | Frisco, TX | 218,962 | 102 | 1,337 | |||||
| 17 | Elgin, IL | 113,205 | 189 | 751 | |||||
| 18 | Irvine, CA | 311,696 | 75 | 1,479 | |||||
| 19 | Santa Clarita, CA | 220,765 | 163 | 1,091 | |||||
| Buckeye, AZ | 110,002 | 186 | 1,037 | ||||||
| 21 | St. George, UT | 104,158 | 163 | 1,093 | |||||
| 22 | Surprise, AZ | 154,128 | 118 | 1,403 | |||||
| 23 | Virginia Beach, VA | 457,556 | 87 | 1,610 | |||||
| 24 | Pembroke Pines, FL | 175,757 | 118 | 1,419 | |||||
| 25 | Sugar Land, TX | 107,989 | 89 | 1,615 | |||||
| 26 | Provo, UT | 114,120 | 147 | 1,399 | |||||
| 27 | Stamford, CT | 136,936 | 192 | 1,169 | |||||
| 28 | Sandy Springs, GA | 106,747 | 138 | 1,496 | |||||
| 29 | Pearland, TX | 125,894 | 92 | 1,709 | |||||
| 30 | Sterling Heights, MI | 132,393 | 205 | 1,168 | |||||
| 31 | Miramar, FL | 143,470 | 243 | 1,045 | |||||
| 32 | Bend, OR | 104,649 | 150 | 1,586 | |||||
| 33 | Elk Grove, CA | 180,372 | 201 | 1,311 | |||||
| 34 | Broken Arrow, OK | 118,683 | 155 | 1,609 | |||||
| 35 | Peoria, AZ | 197,894 | 195 | 1,381 | |||||
| 36 | New Braunfels, TX | 107,017 | 187 | 1,413 | |||||
| 37 | Olathe, KS | 144,646 | 223 | 1,207 | |||||
| 38 | Orange, CA | 138,846 | 129 | 1,725 | |||||
| 39 | Yonkers, NY | 208,100 | 309 | 916 | |||||
| 40 | Jersey City, NJ | 276,300 | 220 | 1,384 | |||||
| 41 | Aurora, IL | 197,709 | 333 | 216 | |||||
| 42 | Murrieta, CA | 114,655 | 273 | 1,245 | |||||
| 43 | Hialeah, FL | 234,235 | 190 | 1,644 | |||||
| 44 | Glendale, CA | 188,599 | 150 | 1,826 | |||||
| 45 | Fontana, CA | 212,730 | 287 | 1,287 | |||||
| 46 | Clovis, CA | 125,348 | 188 | 1,733 | |||||
| 47 | Carrollton, TX | 133,610 | 206 | 1,660 | |||||
| 48 | Menifee, CA | 109,673 | 289 | 1,372 | |||||
| 49 | Chandler, AZ | 281,373 | 182 | 1,807 | |||||
| 50 | Goodyear, AZ | 107,212 | 168 | 1,860 | |||||
| 51 | Plano, TX | 289,847 | 158 | 1,896 | |||||
| 52 | Palm Bay, FL | 116,897 | 280 | 1,514 | |||||
| 53 | Laredo, TX | 256,973 | 316 | 1,285 | |||||
| 54 | Roseville, CA | 155,448 | 163 | 1,884 | |||||
| 55 | El Paso, TX | 678,232 | 313 | 1,379 | |||||
| 56 | Carlsbad, CA | 115,531 | 208 | 1,771 | |||||
| 57 | Huntsville, AL | 218,897 | 298 | 1,506 | |||||
| 58 | Lee's Summit, MO | 103,976 | 138 | 2,097 | |||||
| 59 | Chula Vista, CA | 277,976 | 350 | 1,277 | |||||
| 60 | Alexandria, VA | 150,957 | 186 | 1,951 | |||||
| 61 | Nampa, ID | 111,501 | 351 | 1,267 | |||||
| 62 | Santa Rosa, CA | 175,999 | 339 | 1,359 | |||||
| 63 | Grand Prairie, TX | 199,663 | 202 | 1,888 | |||||
| 64 | Quincy, MA | 101,434 | 397 | 1,090 | |||||
| 65 | Mcallen, TX | 145,510 | 195 | 1,951 | |||||
| 66 | College Station, TX | 121,618 | 203 | 1,925 | |||||
| 67 | Rochester, MN | 121,534 | 222 | 1,872 | |||||
| 68 | Boca Raton, FL | 101,583 | 202 | 1,964 | |||||
| 69 | Ann Arbor, MI | 120,549 | 307 | 1,716 | |||||
| 70 | Bridgeport, CT | 148,395 | 408 | 1,241 | |||||
| 71 | Richardson, TX | 115,771 | 158 | 2,271 | |||||
| 72 | Centennial, CO | 105,849 | 197 | 2,109 | |||||
| 73 | Round Rock, TX | 127,349 | 168 | 2,303 | |||||
| 74 | Temecula, CA | 111,611 | 156 | 2,375 | |||||
| 75 | Dearborn, MI | 107,197 | 281 | 1,920 | |||||
| 76 | Vacaville, CA | 103,486 | 314 | 1,855 | |||||
| 77 | Joliet, IL | 150,545 | 511 | 1,018 | |||||
| 78 | Henderson, NV | 325,332 | 302 | 1,918 | |||||
| 79 | Escondido, CA | 150,072 | 345 | 1,795 | |||||
| 80 | Davie, FL | 107,988 | 243 | 2,264 | |||||
| 81 | Scottsdale, AZ | 245,886 | 214 | 2,355 | |||||
| 82 | Huntington Beach, CA | 194,618 | 253 | 2,242 | |||||
| 83 | Corona, CA | 161,946 | 216 | 2,402 | |||||
| 84 | Lewisville, TX | 113,568 | 294 | 2,205 | |||||
| 85 | Lowell, MA | 113,277 | 401 | 1,747 | |||||
| 86 | Overland Park, KS | 196,626 | 222 | 2,394 | |||||
| 87 | Sunnyvale, CA | 148,739 | 219 | 2,456 | |||||
| 88 | Green Bay, WI | 106,916 | 426 | 1,724 | |||||
| 89 | El Cajon, CA | 104,693 | 468 | 1,608 | |||||
| 90 | Rio Rancho, NM | 107,435 | 457 | 1,671 | |||||
| 91 | Fort Wayne, IN | 267,791 | 262 | 2,387 | |||||
| 92 | Garden Grove, CA | 169,157 | 310 | 2,191 | |||||
| 93 | El Monte, CA | 104,695 | 383 | 1,869 | |||||
| 94 | Mesa, AZ | 513,116 | 427 | 1,769 | |||||
| 95 | North Las Vegas, NV | 284,422 | 421 | 1,774 | |||||
| 96 | Charleston, SC | 152,324 | 374 | 1,889 | |||||
| 97 | Ontario, CA | 180,004 | 323 | 2,129 | |||||
| 98 | Warren, MI | 137,138 | 488 | 1,658 | |||||
| 99 | Denton, TX | 154,230 | 288 | 2,380 | |||||
| 100 | West Jordan, UT | 115,900 | 333 | 2,155 | |||||