Study: Safest suburbs in the USA 2024

[CalGalTraveler]

Nice to see that the community where we live in Calif. is high on the list.

America’s Safest Suburbs – 2024 Study

SmartAsset ranked 360 suburbs of major U.S. cities from most to least safe. To help measure the value for the local cost of living,

smartasset.com

 

[joestein]

These articles are a joke. They consider a whole bunch of things that have nothing to do with safety - like House Affordability and how far from a major city.

The problem is that they cherry pick information or create limitations that remove or add certain towns. Only Violent and Property Crimes should count. Otherwise - it is not a list of safest towns.

My town has a violent crime rate of .0001 - which is lower than any of the top 15 on the list. We have a property crime rate of .01 - better than most of the top 15 - yet we do not show up on the list - why? The other - non crime related stats that make up the list disqualify us. Probably because of both House Affordability and distance from NYC (which probably disqualify most of the NYC suburbs).

 

[TheHolleys87]

Well, here’s a little inaccuracy - Spring, TX, is an unincorporated area that straddles the Harris County and Montgomery County line. I wonder whether they looked at the crime statistics for only the Harris County part of the area served by the Spring, TX post office or for all of “Spring”?

 

[CalGalTraveler]

These articles are a joke. They consider a whole bunch of things that have nothing to do with safety - like House Affordability and how far from a major city.

The problem is that they cherry pick information or create limitations that remove or add certain towns. Only Violent and Property Crimes should count. Otherwise - it is not a list of safest towns.

My town has a violent crime rate of .0001 - which is lower than any of the top 15 on the list. We have a property crime rate of .01 - better than most of the top 15 - yet we do not show up on the list - why? The other - non crime related stats that make up the list disqualify us. Probably because of both House Affordability and distance from NYC (which probably disqualify most of the NYC suburbs).

re: Housing affordability excluding your town. I am not certain housing affordability is part of the metric. It appears it is there for information if you look at the study metrics below and the table they published. I hardly think that Palo Alto, Mountain View, Tiburon and Sausalito California are considered affordable, yet they are high on the list. Perhaps the average income for those cities (high) improves the affordability percentage?

To find the safest suburbs, SmartAsset compared data for 360 places that are within 15 to 45 minutes of the 100 largest U.S. cities by car, that have at least 5,000 residents, by the following metrics:

• Violent crime rate. The number of violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Data comes from the FBI’s 2022 Uniform Crime Reporting Database; missing crime data was supplemented by NeighborhoodScout.com
• Property crime rate. The number of property crimes per 100,000 residents. Data comes from the FBI’s 2022 Uniform Crime Reporting Database; missing crime data was supplemented by NeighborhoodScout.com
• Vehicular mortality rate. The number of deaths due to traffic accidents per 100,000 residents. Data is from the 2024 County Health Rankings.
• Drug poisoning mortality rate. The number of drug poisoning deaths per 100,000 residents. Data is from the 2024 County Health Rankings.
• Percentage of the population engaging in excessive drinking. The percentage of adults who consumed more than four drinks of alcohol for women or five drinks of alcohol for men on a single occasion over a 30-day period, or who engage in heavy drinking, which is defined as drinking more than one drink per day for women or two drinks a day for men on average. Data is from the 2022 County Health Rankings.

The vehicular mortality rate, drug poisoning mortality rate and percentage of the population engaging in excessive drinking are all measured at the county level. Violent and property crime rates are at the city level.

re: Distance from a major city. Well, the list is about "suburbs" which is by definition not too far from a major city. Not "exurbs" or "rural". The town needs to have at least 5000 residents.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

These articles are a joke

Most of them are. It is now required to have a PhD in BS-ology and to study them before figuring out which ones are internally consistent, never mind insightful.
So, hard pass on clicking any of those links. I believe your summary. Does it give a table that clearly shows weightings and the calc? If not, evybuddys got one.

 

[TolmiePeak]

The most dangerous place in America is the freeway at 70mph.

 

[joestein]

These articles are a joke. They consider a whole bunch of things that have nothing to do with safety - like House Affordability and how far from a major city.

The problem is that they cherry pick information or create limitations that remove or add certain towns. Only Violent and Property Crimes should count. Otherwise - it is not a list of safest towns.

My town has a violent crime rate of .0001 - which is lower than any of the top 15 on the list. We have a property crime rate of .01 - better than most of the top 15 - yet we do not show up on the list - why? The other - non crime related stats that make up the list disqualify us.

re: Housing affordability excluding your town. I am not certain housing affordability is part of the metric. It appears it is there for information if you look at the study metrics below and the table they published. I hardly think that Palo Alto, Mountain View, Tiburon and Sausalito California are considered affordable, yet they are high on the list. Perhaps the average income for those cities (high) improves the affordability percentage?

To find the safest suburbs, SmartAsset compared data for 360 places that are within 15 to 45 minutes of the 100 largest U.S. cities by car, that have at least 5,000 residents, by the following metrics:

• Violent crime rate. The number of violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Data comes from the FBI’s 2022 Uniform Crime Reporting Database; missing crime data was supplemented by NeighborhoodScout.com
• Property crime rate. The number of property crimes per 100,000 residents. Data comes from the FBI’s 2022 Uniform Crime Reporting Database; missing crime data was supplemented by NeighborhoodScout.com
• Vehicular mortality rate. The number of deaths due to traffic accidents per 100,000 residents. Data is from the 2024 County Health Rankings.
• Drug poisoning mortality rate. The number of drug poisoning deaths per 100,000 residents. Data is from the 2024 County Health Rankings.
• Percentage of the population engaging in excessive drinking. The percentage of adults who consumed more than four drinks of alcohol for women or five drinks of alcohol for men on a single occasion over a 30-day period, or who engage in heavy drinking, which is defined as drinking more than one drink per day for women or two drinks a day for men on average. Data is from the 2022 County Health Rankings.

The vehicular mortality rate, drug poisoning mortality rate and percentage of the population engaging in excessive drinking are all measured at the county level. Violent and property crime rates are at the city level.

re: Distance from a major city. Well, the list is about "suburbs" which is by definition not too far from a major city. Not "exurbs" or "rural". The town needs to have at least 5000 residents.

The article states: To help measure the value for the local cost of living, housing affordability in the safest neighborhoods was also considered.

So - I take that to be considered. Also... traffic around major cities make driving slow. 45 min drive from NYC is not getting you far. Plus what defines a major city? Trenton or Newark? or only NYC?

 

[CalGalTraveler]

@joestein It is what it is. It is using public safety statistics and the article shared the methodology and underlying statistics which factored into this result - which is more than many of these lists. It states 100 largest US cities and towns with > 5000 residents. Seems pretty clear to me. Do the cities you list fit that category? Perhaps your town is excluded because your town does not fit the definitions they cited?

 

[PigsDad]

The most dangerous place in America is the freeway at 70mph.

Yes, because if you are driving that slow around here, you'll get run over.

Kurt

 

[TolmiePeak]

Yes, because if you are driving that slow around here, you'll get run over.

Kurt

Can’t believe that people don’t take safety seriously.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[joestein]

@joestein It is what it is. It is using public safety statistics and the article shared the methodology and underlying statistics which factored into this result - which is more than many of these lists. It states 100 largest US cities and towns with > 5000 residents. Seems pretty clear to me. Do the cities you list fit that category? Perhaps your town is excluded because your town does not fit the definitions they cited

My town has around 40K people.

 

[PigsDad]

Can’t believe that people don’t take safety seriously.

Dude, 70mph is below the speed limit around here. It is a safety hazard to drive that slow.

BTW, I'm glad to see at least a couple of people got the humor side of my post.

Kurt

 

[CalGalTraveler]

@joestein then based on the screening or criteria your town did not make the list. The purpose of the list is to help people find suburbs that are ideal to live. IMO other elements of the list are not bad safety measures. And affordability is not a wrong measure because if you cannot afford to live in a safe suburb, then that's not helpful given the objective of the list.

 

[buzglyd]

How on earth do they know the percentage of people who are regularly drunk?

 

[joestein]

@joestein then based on the screening or criteria your town did not make the list. The purpose of the list is to help people find suburbs that are ideal to live. IMO other elements of the list are not bad safety measures. And affordability is not a wrong measure because if you cannot afford to live in a safe suburb, then that's not helpful given the objective of the list.

Then don't call it the 'safest towns' - call it something else.

 

[joestein]

How on earth do they know the percentage of people who are regularly drunk?

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

They take the per capita # taps in bars in the town, multiply by the # DUIs on 1st St in the last yr and then ask their neighbor Barney Gumble.

If it's on the www, it must be twue.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

@joestein Its called "safest suburbs". "Not safest towns."

 

[Brett]

@joestein Its called "safest suburbs". "Not safest towns."

My town has around 40K people.

https://www.moneygeek.com/living/safest-cities/small-cities-and-towns-in-america/

(My town didn't make any of the "safest" lists )

 

[joestein]

View attachment 98139



https://www.moneygeek.com/living/safest-cities/small-cities-and-towns-in-america/

(My town didn't make any of the "safest" lists )

So, I looked at the list. The numbers appear to be based upon Niche. My town is next to Manalapan. Generally very little crime in Western Monmouth County (where both towns are), except for Car Thefts - which are out of control.

Manalapan is #13 and Marlboro is #301. Most people around here would think that Marlboro is a nicer township than Manalapan, just like Colts Neck is nicer township than Marlboro.

Fun Fact..... Manalapan was ranked #1 snobbish town in NJ. Which I completely disagree with... Marlboro is much more snobbish. It is why when I moved here 23 years ago... one of the guys who worked for me, who lives in a nearby town said I was moving to 'Snob-boro'.

 

[rapmarks]

Naperville, ranked #13, is the fourth largest city in Illinois. Another suburb, which is not ranked is Schaumburg, which is the second largest city in Illinois

 

[TolmiePeak]

Dude, 70mph is below the speed limit around here. It is a safety hazard to drive that slow.

BTW, I'm glad to see at least a couple of people got the humor side of my post.

Kurt

Absolutely outrageous the speed limit is higher than that. No reason to go that fast. They need to install video speed enforcement to reduce deaths. Allowing 1 million + people to die in car accidents every year is outrageous. If 8 747 airplanes crashed and killed everyone on board every single day no one would ever fly again.