(NEXSTAR) — If you’re looking to move to a suburban home, you may be weighing a number of aspects — school quality, walkability and proximity to one’s job are all common concerns.
You’re also likely wondering how safe the area is. As you may expect, there are a number of things that can impact the perceived safety of the suburb.
SmartAsset, a personal finance website, reviewed 370 suburbs across the 100 largest cities in the U.S. and analyzed them based on multiple safety-related metrics: violent crime rates and property crime rates based on FBI data, as well as rates of adults engaging in excessive drinking, deaths related to traffic accidents and drug poisonings from County Health Rankings.
Overall, SmartAsset found suburbs on the East Coast and in the Midwest were among the safest. Suburbs in the West and South ranked further down on the list.
Great Falls, Virginia, a Washington D.C. suburb located along the Potomac River ranked highest on SmartAsset’s list. The census-designated location — where Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin once lived — had the second-lowest violent crime rate at 6.81 per 100,000 residents (coming in behind Edgerton, Wisconsin, with a crime rate of 0) and one of the lowest vehicle mortality rates. Additionally, SmartAsset found that, based on U.S. Census Bureau data, Great Falls had the highest median household income of any of the suburbs analyzed at just over $250,000.
Nearby Bethesda, Maryland ranked third on the list, boasting some of the lowest vehicle mortality and excessive drinking rates in the study. Indiana suburbs comprised the rest of the top five safest, with Carmel ranking second overall. Fishers and Noblesville rounded out the list.
The 10 safest suburbs, according to SmartAsset’s analysis, are:
Great Falls, Virginia
Carmel, Indiana
Bethesda, Maryland
Fishers, Indiana
Noblesville, Indiana
Lehi, Utah
Fort Bliss, Texas
Frisco, Texas
Dacula, Georgia
Castle Rock, Colorado
In Texas, two cities made the list of the top 10 safest suburbs in the US. According to the analysis, Fort Bliss ranked seventh overall and had nearly 70 violent crime incidents per 100,000 residents. Additionally, Fort Bliss scored high due to its low vehicular mortality rate of 11.3 per 100,000 and its low property crime rate of 218 per 100,000.
The city of Frisco ranked eighth on the list and had a vehicular mortality rate of 6.4 per 100,000 residents. McKinney, another Texas city, ranked 13th overall and shared the same vehicular mortality rate as Frisco, but had a higher rate of violent incidents.
Other Texas suburbs in the top 50 include Georgetown at rank 26, Schertz and Anthony tied for 31, Cedar Park at 34 and West University Place at 47.
Not every Texas suburb ranked high in the analysis. For example, Aransas Pass ranked as the 24th least-safest suburb in the nation and the least-safest suburb in the state overall. The city had a violent crime rate of 645 incidents per 100,000 residents and a vehicular mortality rate of 13 per 100,000.
The best and the worst
Edgerton, Wisconsin had the lowest violent crime rate per 100,000 residents at 0. Fort Bliss, Texas had the lowest overall property crime rate (218 per 100,000 residents). Lexington and Somerville in Massachusetts tied for the fewest vehicular deaths at 3.6 per 100,000 while Waukee, Iowa had the lowest rate of deaths due to drug poisonings at 6.1 per 100,000.
Gonzales, Louisiana had the worst overall safety rating. Located outside Baton Rouge, the suburb had the second-worst property crime rates at 7,466 per 100,000 residents, coming in behind Pineville, North Carolina’s 11,600.
Florida had the most suburbs at the bottom of SmartAsset’s list, including DeLand, which ranked as the second-worst overall behind Gonzales.
The 10 lowest-ranking suburbs in SmartAsset’s analysis were:
Gonzales, Louisiana
DeLand, Florida
Treasure Island, Florida
Rock Hill, South Carolina
Washington, Pennsylvania
Granite City, Illinois
Wilmington, Delaware
Largo, Florida
Jacksonville Beach, Florida
Lumberton, North Carolina
Lumberton had the highest violent crime rate on the list at 2,263 per 100,000 residents, as well as the highest rate of vehicular deaths at 36.2. Petersburg, Virginia recorded the highest drug poisoning mortality rate at 68.6 per 100,000.
SmartAsset’s full list and methodology can be found here.
Another recent analysis of FBI data, conducted by U.S. News and World Report, found states in the Northeast — Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut — were largely the safest, reporting lower rates of violent crime and property crime than others.
(NEXSTAR) — If you’re looking to move to a suburban home, you may be weighing a number of aspects — school quality, walkability and proximity to one’s job are all common concerns.
You’re also likely wondering how safe the area is. As you may expect, there are a number of things that can impact the perceived safety of the suburb.
SmartAsset, a personal finance website, reviewed 370 suburbs across the 100 largest cities in the U.S. and analyzed them based on multiple safety-related metrics: violent crime rates and property crime rates based on FBI data, as well as rates of adults engaging in excessive drinking, deaths related to traffic accidents and drug poisonings from County Health Rankings.
Overall, SmartAsset found suburbs on the East Coast and in the Midwest were among the safest. Suburbs in the West and South ranked further down on the list.
Great Falls, Virginia, a Washington D.C. suburb located along the Potomac River ranked highest on SmartAsset’s list. The census-designated location — where Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin once lived — had the second-lowest violent crime rate at 6.81 per 100,000 residents (coming in behind Edgerton, Wisconsin, with a crime rate of 0) and one of the lowest vehicle mortality rates. Additionally, SmartAsset found that, based on U.S. Census Bureau data, Great Falls had the highest median household income of any of the suburbs analyzed at just over $250,000.
Nearby Bethesda, Maryland ranked third on the list, boasting some of the lowest vehicle mortality and excessive drinking rates in the study. Indiana suburbs comprised the rest of the top five safest, with Carmel ranking second overall. Fishers and Noblesville rounded out the list.
The 10 safest suburbs, according to SmartAsset’s analysis, are:
Great Falls, Virginia
Carmel, Indiana
Bethesda, Maryland
Fishers, Indiana
Noblesville, Indiana
Lehi, Utah
Fort Bliss, Texas
Frisco, Texas
Dacula, Georgia
Castle Rock, Colorado
In Texas, two cities made the list of the top 10 safest suburbs in the US. According to the analysis, Fort Bliss ranked seventh overall and had nearly 70 violent crime incidents per 100,000 residents. Additionally, Fort Bliss scored high due to its low vehicular mortality rate of 11.3 per 100,000 and its low property crime rate of 218 per 100,000.
The city of Frisco ranked eighth on the list and had a vehicular mortality rate of 6.4 per 100,000 residents. McKinney, another Texas city, ranked 13th overall and shared the same vehicular mortality rate as Frisco, but had a higher rate of violent incidents.
Other Texas suburbs in the top 50 include Georgetown at rank 26, Schertz and Anthony tied for 31, Cedar Park at 34 and West University Place at 47.
Not every Texas suburb ranked high in the analysis. For example, Aransas Pass ranked as the 24th least-safest suburb in the nation and the least-safest suburb in the state overall. The city had a violent crime rate of 645 incidents per 100,000 residents and a vehicular mortality rate of 13 per 100,000.
The best and the worst
Edgerton, Wisconsin had the lowest violent crime rate per 100,000 residents at 0. Fort Bliss, Texas had the lowest overall property crime rate (218 per 100,000 residents). Lexington and Somerville in Massachusetts tied for the fewest vehicular deaths at 3.6 per 100,000 while Waukee, Iowa had the lowest rate of deaths due to drug poisonings at 6.1 per 100,000.
Gonzales, Louisiana had the worst overall safety rating. Located outside Baton Rouge, the suburb had the second-worst property crime rates at 7,466 per 100,000 residents, coming in behind Pineville, North Carolina’s 11,600.
Florida had the most suburbs at the bottom of SmartAsset’s list, including DeLand, which ranked as the second-worst overall behind Gonzales.
The 10 lowest-ranking suburbs in SmartAsset’s analysis were:
Gonzales, Louisiana
DeLand, Florida
Treasure Island, Florida
Rock Hill, South Carolina
Washington, Pennsylvania
Granite City, Illinois
Wilmington, Delaware
Largo, Florida
Jacksonville Beach, Florida
Lumberton, North Carolina
Lumberton had the highest violent crime rate on the list at 2,263 per 100,000 residents, as well as the highest rate of vehicular deaths at 36.2. Petersburg, Virginia recorded the highest drug poisoning mortality rate at 68.6 per 100,000.
SmartAsset’s full list and methodology can be found here.
Another recent analysis of FBI data, conducted by U.S. News and World Report, found states in the Northeast — Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut — were largely the safest, reporting lower rates of violent crime and property crime than others.