The 10 Safest Cities In America For 2022

We used data and science to determine the cities in America where everyone sleeps safe and sound.

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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 Carmel.

The purpose of this post is to determine where the safest cities to live are in America. Those places where crime is usually something you hear about on Facebook, but not from your neighbor.

After analyzing 283 cities in America with a population of more than 100,000, we came up with this list of the safest cities in America for 2022:

  1. Carmel, IN
  2. Naperville, IL
  3. Cary, NC
  4. Thousand Oaks, CA
  5. Allen, TX
  6. Frisco, TX
  7. Murrieta, CA
  8. Sugar Land, TX
  9. Port St. Lucie, FL
  10. Santa Clarita, CA

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:

Editor's Note: We updated this article for 2022. This is our ninth time ranking the safest cities in America.

Taking the crown as the safest city in America for 2022 is Carmel -- a classic example of everything that makes America great.

We are talking about only having a 1 in 170.4 chance of being the victim of a property crime and a 1 in 2,021 chance of being the victim of violent crime.

That's crazy safe. Compare it to St. Louis, MO or Memphis, TN -- the most dangerous city in the country -- with roughly a 1 in 30 chance of beign the victim of a property crime.

Overall SnackAbility
10
/10

Population: 103,100
Rank Last Year: -
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 49 (1st safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 586 (4th safest)
More on Carmel: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living

Carmel, IN

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.

Overall SnackAbility
10
/10

Population: 149,137
Rank Last Year: -
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 66 (5th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 166 (1st safest)
More on Naperville: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living

Naperville, IL

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.

Overall SnackAbility
9.5
/10

Population: 174,441
Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 2)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 66 (6th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 946 (12th safest)
More on Cary: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living

Cary, NC

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.

Overall SnackAbility
9.5
/10

Population: 126,823
Rank Last Year: 2 (Down 2)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 59 (4th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 1,036 (16th safest)
More on Thousand Oaks: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living

Thousand Oaks, CA

Welcome to Allen, Texas, the 4th 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!

Overall SnackAbility
9
/10

Population: 108,218
Rank Last Year: 3 (Down 1)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 97 (10th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 920 (10th safest)
More on Allen: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living

Allen, TX

Welcome to Frisco, Texas. Now if you talk to Frisco residents, they'll probably tell you they should be atop this list. If you walked around here, there's no way you'd see neighborhood bullies running around. And there's practically no chance you'd get robbed by this idiot walking around at night, that's for sure.

You only have a 1 in 1,000 chance of being the victim of a terrible crime here. That's low.

Frisco is a posh, Dallas/Fort Worth suburb. Like League City, it's growing really fast - in fact it's just about the fastest growing city in the US. And somehow, despite the fact people are flocking here in droves, people have managed to remain civilized. Hmm. Imagine that, here in America. Average home prices here are about a half million. Likely, the criminals and creeps can't afford to live here, so they stay away. Are we seeing a pattern here? Fancy rich suburbs are safe? Who'd have thunk it?

Former Miss USA Courtney Gibbs is from Frisco.

Overall SnackAbility
9
/10

Population: 212,626
Rank Last Year: 5 (Down 1)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 86 (9th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 971 (13th safest)
More on Frisco: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living

Frisco, TX

Next on our list of safest places to live in America brings us to the ostentatious community of Murrieta, California. Whatever ostentatious means. It sounded like the right word.

Murrieta undoubtedly has a very bored police department. If you spent a year in Murrieta, you'd have only a 1 in 250 chance you'd be the victim of even a basic property crime. In fact, most years, there's only a handful of violent crimes reported within city limits.

Murrieta calls itself the future of California. That's quite a stretch - I grew up near here, but I will say if driving two hours to work each way each day is the future of living in California, than maybe their motto is spot on. But, Murrieta's the type of place that If you need a ride to work one day, someone will give you a lift. Heck, if your dog shows up missing, it's probably just at the neighbor's house.

Next time you see a Murrieta police officer, thank em!

Overall SnackAbility
9
/10

Population: 117,639
Rank Last Year: 6 (No Change)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 80 (7th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 1,024 (15th safest)
More on Murrieta: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living

Murrieta, CA

The eighth safest city in America for 2019 goes to Sugar Land. Let's see why.

There were only 68 violent crimes here last year -- which is basically 0 for the average citizen. And there were only 1,277 property crimes to boot.

Overall SnackAbility
9
/10

Population: 119,671
Rank Last Year: -
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 56 (3rd safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 1,067 (20th safest)
More on Sugar Land: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living

Sugar Land, TX

If you're looking for a safe place to live in America, may we present Port St. Lucie as an option.

While it doesn't sit at the very top of the chart for America, it still has an impressively low crime rate.

1,666 property crimes occurred here, which nets out to being the 6th best in America on a rate basis.

Overall SnackAbility
8
/10

Population: 206,450
Rank Last Year: 14 (Up 5)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 127 (22nd safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 806 (6th safest)
More on Port St. Lucie: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living

Port St. Lucie, FL

And just making it into the top ten for 2021 is Santa Clarita.

But we know they don't take this spot for granted -- Santa Clarita residents can attest that their home town deserves to be the on list.

In total, there were 291 violent crimes and 2,013 property crimes in Santa Clarita; that's really good for a place of 221,000 people and definitely something to be happy about looking forward into 2019.

Overall SnackAbility
9
/10

Population: 221,932
Rank Last Year: 10 (No Change)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 131 (26th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 907 (9th safest)
More on Santa Clarita: Real Estate | Crime Report | Cost Of Living

Santa Clarita, CA

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

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 what cities in a state are the safest, we didn't want to rely on speculation and opinion. Instead, we looked at the hard numbers from the FBI's most recent report of crime (Sept 2021). 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 656 crimes committed in Carmel which had a reported population of 103,100. That means the number of crimes per capita is 0.0064 which translates into a 1 in 157 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 2020. This left us with a total of 283 of the biggest cities in America to rank.

We ranked each city for each criteria from 1 to 283 where 1 in any particular category is the safest.

Next, we averaged each places 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 Carmel. The most dangerous city in America? Memphis, where residents had a 1 in 12 chance of being the victim of a crime.

Note: This report is not an analysis of the effectiveness of local police departments, nor does it reflect the fact that people from out of town may come into a community and cause a crime. It simply looks at where crimes occurred most frequently, based on a city's population.

Graph Of The Safest Cities In America

Summary: The Safest Cities In The USA

Looking at the data, you can tell that Carmel is as safe as they come, according to science and data.

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:

  1. Memphis
  2. St. Louis
  3. Springfield
For more reading, check out:

Safest Cities In The United States For 2022

Rank City Population Violent Crimes Per 100k Property Crimes Per 100k
1 Carmel, IN 103,100 49 586
2 Naperville, IL 149,137 66 166
3 Cary, NC 174,441 66 946
4 Thousand Oaks, CA 126,823 59 1,036
5 Allen, TX 108,218 97 920
6 Frisco, TX 212,626 86 971
7 Murrieta, CA 117,639 80 1,024
8 Sugar Land, TX 119,671 56 1,067
9 Port St. Lucie, FL 206,450 127 806
10 Santa Clarita, CA 221,932 131 907
11 Gilbert, AZ 259,629 109 1,077
12 Mckinney, TX 208,335 134 935
13 Cape Coral, FL 199,503 127 1,067
14 Meridian, ID 119,203 159 843
15 Simi Valley, CA 125,742 132 1,048
16 Coral Springs, FL 135,027 121 1,232
17 League City, TX 110,518 114 1,350
18 Sterling Heights, MI 132,745 175 858
19 Irvine, CA 297,069 51 1,498
20 Pearland, TX 126,111 99 1,426
21 Pembroke Pines, FL 175,757 118 1,419
22 Virginia Beach, VA 450,858 98 1,511
23 Elgin, IL 111,127 233 223
24 Surprise, AZ 144,620 144 1,387
25 Sandy Springs, GA 111,219 147 1,383
26 Glendale, CA 200,168 102 1,597
27 Daly City, CA 106,855 179 1,366
28 Miramar, FL 143,470 243 1,045
29 Stamford, CT 130,425 217 1,104
30 Elk Grove, CA 177,331 224 1,342
31 Orange, CA 138,846 129 1,725
32 Round Rock, TX 137,593 134 1,658
33 Henderson, NV 328,056 207 1,426
34 Ann Arbor, MI 120,647 243 1,319
35 Centennial, CO 112,104 128 1,765
36 Plano, TX 290,786 155 1,645
37 Mcallen, TX 144,569 85 1,930
38 Olathe, KS 142,228 249 1,364
39 Carlsbad, CA 116,516 192 1,580
40 Aurora, IL 197,709 333 216
41 Hialeah, FL 234,235 190 1,644
42 Fontana, CA 216,553 307 1,156
43 Yonkers, NY 200,816 325 990
44 Temecula, CA 116,442 127 1,942
45 Alexandria, VA 161,525 182 1,729
46 Richardson, TX 124,190 127 1,951
47 El Paso, TX 685,288 316 1,241
48 Peoria, AZ 178,486 263 1,503
49 Bend, OR 103,485 168 1,893
50 Scottsdale, AZ 263,006 178 1,880
51 Palm Bay, FL 116,897 280 1,514
52 Chula Vista, CA 278,027 329 1,171
53 College Station, TX 120,831 179 1,902
54 Lee's Summit, MO 100,268 128 2,044
55 Broken Arrow, OK 111,488 172 1,935
56 Vista, CA 102,600 336 1,172
57 Vacaville, CA 101,616 243 1,732
58 Lowell, MA 110,876 313 1,469
59 Chandler, AZ 264,071 205 1,854
60 El Monte, CA 115,690 300 1,534
61 Laredo, TX 265,515 323 1,444
62 Corona, CA 171,848 139 2,100
63 Sunnyvale, CA 154,133 148 2,061
64 Roseville, CA 144,128 192 1,972
65 Hillsboro, OR 111,146 231 1,931
66 Boca Raton, FL 101,583 202 1,964
67 Nampa, ID 101,411 314 1,642
68 Overland Park, KS 198,036 207 1,972
69 Clovis, CA 116,809 205 1,998
70 Lewisville, TX 110,800 292 1,759
71 Grand Prairie, TX 196,990 245 1,924
72 Torrance, CA 143,421 191 2,046
73 Cambridge, MA 119,938 284 1,834
74 Rochester, MN 120,336 249 1,922
75 West Covina, CA 104,989 196 2,106
76 Huntington Beach, CA 200,128 246 1,962
77 Rancho Cucamonga, CA 178,916 307 1,824
78 Kenosha, WI 100,005 390 1,442
79 Downey, CA 111,054 271 1,938
80 Fremont, CA 244,259 166 2,342
81 Burbank, CA 102,419 169 2,415
82 San Diego, CA 1,437,608 368 1,691
83 Beaverton, OR 100,085 234 2,195
84 Santa Clara, CA 131,976 156 2,501
85 Jurupa Valley, CA 111,198 257 2,110
86 Palmdale, CA 155,321 479 1,373
87 Jersey City, NJ 263,273 443 1,496
88 Davie, FL 107,988 243 2,264
89 Escondido, CA 152,446 373 1,769
90 San Mateo, CA 105,246 260 2,191
91 Mesa, AZ 527,361 371 1,846
92 Tampa, FL 407,350 520 1,365
93 Pasadena, CA 141,473 292 2,135
94 Warren, MI 133,928 501 1,447
95 Norwalk, CA 103,774 421 1,706
96 Chesapeake, VA 247,118 412 1,785
97 Oceanside, CA 176,616 405 1,800
98 Bellevue, WA 150,548 116 3,006
99 Brownsville, TX 183,627 401 1,848
100 Clearwater, FL 117,859 390 1,893

Safest Cities By State

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About HomeSnacks

HomeSnacks is based in Durham, NC.

We aim to deliver bite-sized pieces of infotainment about where you live.

We use data, analytics, and a sense of humor to determine quality of life for places across the nation.

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