The 10 Safest Cities In Arizona For 2026

The safest cities in Arizona are Chino Valley and Clarkdale for 2026 using Saturday Night Science.

What do 7.2 million Arizona residents know that we don't? Well, besides how cool it is that Sedona has a pretty happening art scene or how much fun can be had on the ski slopes in Flagstaff, Arizonans know that their state has some of the safest places to live in America.

To find Arizona's safest cities, you must know how to navigate the state's property and violent crime heat map. We looked at the FBI data on crime for places in Arizona with more than 5,000 residents and created a list of the safest places to live in The Copper State for 2026.

Our research led us to multiple conclusions. One, there are safe places throughout Arizona from Tucson in the state's southern region to Page in the northern part. And two, you should look at our list of Arizona's safest places below before making any decisions. There are some surprisingly dangerous places in Arizona, also.

So, where can you live in Arizona and feel safe? Keep reading.

1

No. 1 safest city in Arizona

Chino Valley, AZ

14,059 people SnackAbility 7/10
7/10
Chino Valley, AZ
Source: Flickr User Ken Lund | CC BY-SA 2.0
78 violent / 469 property per 100k
Map of Chino Valley within Arizona Located in Yavapai County, Arizona
Violent / 100k -65% vs AZ
78
AZ 225
Property / 100k -63% vs AZ
469
AZ 1,256

Ranked first in safety across Arizona, Chino Valley touts a low 78/100k people violent crime rate and an even lower 0.0 murder rate. The town also enjoys a modest 469/100k people property crime rate, reflecting its secure environment among its 14,059 residents.

Chino Valley's status as the first Territorial Capital bolsters its historical value. At the same time, its strategic location near Prescott and Ash Fork offers connectivity without sacrificing safety, reinforcing its position as a secure and historically significant town in Yavapai County.

2

No. 2 safest city in Arizona

Clarkdale, AZ

5,061 people SnackAbility 8/10
8/10
Clarkdale, AZ
Source: Wikipedia User Finetooth | CC BY-SA 3.0
20 violent / 553 property per 100k
Located in Yavapai County, Arizona
Violent / 100k -91% vs AZ
20
AZ 225
Property / 100k -56% vs AZ
553
AZ 1,256
3

No. 3 safest city in Arizona

Thatcher, AZ

5,546 people SnackAbility 6/10
6/10
Thatcher, AZ
Source: Flickr User ossguy | CC BY-SA 2.0
72 violent / 649 property per 100k
Located in Graham County, Arizona
Violent / 100k -68% vs AZ
72
AZ 225
Property / 100k -48% vs AZ
649
AZ 1,256

Get ready to pack your mini-van and move to Thatcher -- it's one of the safest places for families, and all people, in the Copper State.

With the third safest rate of violent crime in the state, you won't have to worry about installing a panic room in your house. Interestingly, this is the second year that Thatcher was eligible for our list as it just passed the 5,000 person threshold this year. Moving on up and moving on into the safest places.

Thatcher is a town in Graham County.

4

No. 4 safest city in Arizona

San Luis, AZ

38,809 people SnackAbility 4/10
4/10
San Luis, AZ
Source: Flickr User digitalbookmobile | CC BY 2.0
88 violent / 549 property per 100k
Map of San Luis within Arizona Located in Yuma County, Arizona
Violent / 100k -61% vs AZ
88
AZ 225
Property / 100k -56% vs AZ
549
AZ 1,256

Sometimes the US-Mexico border gets a bad rap for being dangerous, but San Luis hurts that narrative by being the fourth safest place in Arizona.

What's especially impressive in San Luis is it's remarkably low rate of violent crimes -- in a city of over 30,000 residents, San Luis experienced only 8 violent crimes in the last year of data. That leaves residents with just a 1 in 4,134 chance of being the victim of a violent crime in a year, which is light years ahead of the national average.

So you can check out the Yuma Territorial Prison Museum as a visitor, but it's unlikely any San Luis residents will become full-time tenants.

5

No. 5 safest city in Arizona

Bisbee, AZ

5,019 people SnackAbility 7/10
7/10
Bisbee, AZ
Source: Wikipedia User The original uploader was Willjay at English Wikipedia | GFDL
100 violent / 638 property per 100k
Located in Cochise County, Arizona
Violent / 100k -56% vs AZ
100
AZ 225
Property / 100k -49% vs AZ
638
AZ 1,256
6

No. 6 safest city in Arizona

Florence, AZ

23,354 people SnackAbility 5/10
5/10
Florence, AZ
Source: Wikipedia User Tony the Marine (talk) | CC BY-SA 3.0
120 violent / 548 property per 100k
Map of Florence within Arizona Located in Pinal County, Arizona
Violent / 100k -47% vs AZ
120
AZ 225
Property / 100k -56% vs AZ
548
AZ 1,256

Florence ranks as the sixth safest city in Arizona.

Looking into Florence, you'll notice that there's an abnormally high number of prisons in the area. We'd propose that the people that live in town see what life in prison is like and choose to avoid it. That leads to the third safest rate of property crime in the state and the 15th safest rate of violent crime. And if the prisons aren't the reason for the low levels of crime then it's probably the "Country Thunder" music festival each year that booms the crime away.

Florence is a town, 61 miles southeast of Phoenix, in Pinal County

7

No. 7 safest city in Arizona

Somerton, AZ

14,717 people SnackAbility 5/10
5/10
Somerton, AZ
Source: Wikipedia User RicardoCr5 | CC BY-SA 4.0
177 violent / 530 property per 100k
Map of Somerton within Arizona Located in Yuma County, Arizona
Violent / 100k -21% vs AZ
177
AZ 225
Property / 100k -58% vs AZ
530
AZ 1,256

Everyone is Somerton practices safe practices throughout the day -- they hit their 10,000 steps a day, eat their vegetables, and don't smoke. All that leads to the fifth lowest property crime rate and eighth overall placement.

Located so far west it is basically in California, Somerton offers it's safety at a low cost -- the median rent here is only $620/mo. So unlike Paradise Valley, everyone can afford to be safe here.

8

No. 8 safest city in Arizona

Wickenburg, AZ

8,343 people SnackAbility 7/10
7/10
Wickenburg, AZ
Source: Wikipedia User Tony the Marine (talk) | CC BY-SA 3.0
108 violent / 863 property per 100k
Map of Wickenburg within Arizona Located in Yavapai County, Arizona
Violent / 100k -52% vs AZ
108
AZ 225
Property / 100k -31% vs AZ
863
AZ 1,256
9

No. 9 safest city in Arizona

Queen Creek, AZ

82,639 people SnackAbility 6/10
6/10
Queen Creek, AZ
Source: Wikipedia User Tony the Marine | CC BY-SA 3.0
120 violent / 822 property per 100k
Map of Queen Creek within Arizona Located in Pinal County, Arizona
Violent / 100k -47% vs AZ
120
AZ 225
Property / 100k -35% vs AZ
822
AZ 1,256

Queen Creek, with a population of 82,639 in Maricopa County, Arizona, is ranked as the ninth safest city in the state. This community, part of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area and historically known as "Rittenhouse," only had 99 violent crimes and 0 murder cases in 2026.

Queen Creek's commendable safety is reflected in its low 119/100k people violent crime and 821/100k people property crime rates per capita, with a mere 47 burglaries. The city's proactive policing is evident from its rankings: 14th safest in violent crime and tenth safest in property crime.

10

No. 10 safest city in Arizona

Oro Valley, AZ

48,680 people SnackAbility 9/10
9/10
Oro Valley, AZ
Source: Wikipedia User The original uploader was Danman083 at English Wikipedia | GFDL
51 violent / 1,148 property per 100k
Map of Oro Valley within Arizona Located in Pima County, Arizona
Violent / 100k -77% vs AZ
51
AZ 225
Property / 100k -9% vs AZ
1,148
AZ 1,256

Oro Valley ranks as the tenth safest city in Arizona.

And to be honest, it's probably pretty hard to commit any crime when you're too busy golfing around any of the almost ten golf clubs in town.

For those ambitious people willing to put down the golf club for half second, they did manage to place Oro Valley with the second safest violent crime rate in the state.

Located in southwestern Arizona, the city scores a solid 9 / 10 on our SnackAbility score -- meaning it's a great place to live all around and not just because it's safe.

The receipts

Compare the top ten

Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Arizona's statewide median. Lower is safer.

City Violent / 100k vs AZ
1 Chino Valley 78 -65%
2 Clarkdale 20 -91%
3 Thatcher 72 -68%
4 San Luis 88 -61%
5 Bisbee 100 -56%
6 Florence 120 -47%
7 Somerton 177 -21%
8 Wickenburg 108 -52%
9 Queen Creek 120 -47%
10 Oro Valley 51 -77%

Arizona statewide median: 225

City Property / 100k vs AZ
1 Chino Valley 469 -63%
2 Clarkdale 553 -56%
3 Thatcher 649 -48%
4 San Luis 549 -56%
5 Bisbee 638 -49%
6 Florence 548 -56%
7 Somerton 530 -58%
8 Wickenburg 863 -31%
9 Queen Creek 822 -35%
10 Oro Valley 1,148 -9%

Arizona statewide median: 1,256

City Murders / 100k vs AZ
1 Chino Valley 0 -100%
2 Clarkdale 0 -100%
3 Thatcher 0 -100%
4 San Luis 0 -100%
5 Bisbee 0 -100%
6 Florence 9 +1104%
7 Somerton 0 -100%
8 Wickenburg 0 -100%
9 Queen Creek 0 -100%
10 Oro Valley 0 -100%

Arizona statewide median: 1

City Population vs AZ
1 Chino Valley 14,059 --
2 Clarkdale 5,061 --
3 Thatcher 5,546 --
4 San Luis 38,809 --
5 Bisbee 5,019 --
6 Florence 23,354 --
7 Somerton 14,717 --
8 Wickenburg 8,343 --
9 Queen Creek 82,639 --
10 Oro Valley 48,680 --

On the map

Where the safety is in Arizona

Safest Cities in Arizona Graph

Saturday Night Science

Methodology: How we calculated the safest cities in Arizona for 2026

While there are surveys and public polls on what cities in Arizona are the safest, we wanted to rely on something other than speculation and opinion. Instead, we looked at the hard numbers from the FBI's most recent crime report in Arizona.

Specifically, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, which summarizes the number of property and violent crimes in each city annually. 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 77 crimes committed in Chino Valley, with a reported population of 14,059. That means the number of crimes per capita is 0.0055, which translates into a 1 in 182 chance of being the victim of a crime.

We only looked at Arizona cities that have populations of more than 5,000. This filter left us with 53 of the biggest cities in Arizona to rank.

We ranked each city for each criterion from 1 to 53 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 Arizona," with any ties going to the bigger city.

The safest city in Arizona, based on our criteria, is Chino Valley. The most dangerous city in Arizona? Tolleson, where residents had a 1 in 9 chance of being the victim of a crime.

This article has been update for 2026. This report marks our eleventh time ranking the safest places to live in Arizona. All the data comes from the FBI's Crime In The USA 2024 report.

Summary

Summary: The Safest Cities In The Grand Canyon State

Looking at the data, you can tell that Chino Valley is as safe as they come in Arizona, according to science and data.

But as most Arizona residents would agree, almost every place here has its safe and not safe parts. So just make sure you're informed ahead of time.

The safest places in Arizona are .

For more reading, check out:

The full plate

Where Are The Safest Cities In Arizona For 2026?

Click any column to sort. All 53 ranked Arizona cities.

Rank City Population Violent / 100k Property / 100k Murders / 100k Murders
1 Chino Valley, AZ 14,059 78 469 0 0
2 Clarkdale, AZ 5,061 19 553 0 0
3 Thatcher, AZ 5,546 72 649 0 0
4 San Luis, AZ 38,809 87 548 0 0
5 Bisbee, AZ 5,019 99 637 0 0
6 Florence, AZ 23,354 119 548 8 2
7 Somerton, AZ 14,717 176 529 0 0
8 Wickenburg, AZ 8,343 107 862 0 0
9 Queen Creek, AZ 82,639 119 821 0 0
10 Oro Valley, AZ 48,680 51 1,148 0 0
11 Paradise Valley, AZ 12,440 80 988 0 0
12 Litchfield Park, AZ 6,881 101 944 0 0
13 Surprise, AZ 163,202 109 875 7 12
14 Sahuarita, AZ 37,049 91 977 5 2
15 Buckeye, AZ 114,513 166 771 2 3
16 Gilbert, AZ 277,527 132 968 0 1
17 Prescott Valley, AZ 51,116 224 768 3 2
18 Maricopa, AZ 75,614 224 868 2 2
19 Douglas, AZ 15,359 78 1,569 0 0
20 Marana, AZ 60,507 115 1,350 3 2
21 Camp Verde, AZ 12,597 182 1,135 0 0
22 Cottonwood, AZ 13,441 223 1,168 0 0
23 Chandler, AZ 281,117 133 1,504 0 2
24 Snowflake-Taylor, AZ 11,231 311 1,112 0 0
25 Goodyear, AZ 116,892 182 1,462 0 0
26 Peoria, AZ 201,056 254 1,205 1 3
27 Prescott, AZ 48,339 335 1,117 2 1
28 Payson, AZ 16,845 261 1,222 0 0
29 Scottsdale, AZ 245,237 152 1,875 0 1
30 Sierra Vista, AZ 44,119 217 1,663 2 1
31 Eloy, AZ 19,594 484 969 10 2
32 Sedona, AZ 9,861 314 1,298 0 0
33 El Mirage, AZ 35,815 382 1,256 2 1
34 Yuma, AZ 101,989 423 1,247 2 3
35 Lake Havasu City, AZ 59,898 355 1,394 0 0
36 Coolidge, AZ 20,276 305 1,528 9 2
37 Kingman, AZ 36,187 221 3,379 8 3
38 Casa Grande, AZ 67,317 410 1,528 5 4
39 Apache Junction, AZ 41,994 426 1,512 2 1
40 Mesa, AZ 513,585 482 1,464 2 14
41 Nogales, AZ 19,686 228 3,601 0 0
42 Avondale, AZ 94,911 369 2,241 5 5
43 Bullhead City, AZ 43,923 455 2,192 2 1
44 Flagstaff, AZ 76,433 463 2,232 6 5
45 Tempe, AZ 191,376 470 2,893 2 5
46 Glendale, AZ 255,512 488 2,670 7 20
47 Show Low, AZ 12,341 737 2,260 16 2
48 Phoenix, AZ 1,662,809 799 2,325 8 139
49 Tucson, AZ 548,789 588 3,313 6 37
50 Page, AZ 7,288 548 5,200 0 0
51 Winslow, AZ 8,362 813 3,635 0 0
52 Globe, AZ 7,156 810 5,408 0 0
53 Tolleson, AZ 7,141 1,008 9,158 0 0

Breaking Down Crime In The Safest And Most Dangerous Cities In Arizona

Safest Cities in Arizona Breakdown

Keep exploring

Safest Cities By State