These are America's safest small towns: report

(NEXSTAR) — If you're ready to trade in car break-ins and police sirens for a slice of small-town living, you may want to set your sights on the quaint communities of New England or the quirky architecture mecca of Indiana.

MoneyGeek, a personal finance site, had researchers analyze last year’s FBI crime data of more than 1,000 small towns and cities where the population is between 30,000 and 100,000.

MoneyGeek then used research by professors at the University of Miami and the University of Colorado Denver to calculate the cost of crime in each town. The cost of crime includes direct losses suffered by victims, resulting medical care costs, property loss, the cost of putting a suspect on trial and more.

When all the calculations were done, they found the safest small city in the country is Columbus, Indiana. The city south of Indianapolis had the lowest property crime rate of all the smaller towns and cities and among the lowest violent crime rates. (Aside from its low crime rate, you may have heard of Columbus for its architecture and public art. It was the setting of the 2017 movie "Columbus," which featured the city's unique design.)

Violent crime is even lower in several spots in the Northeast, which dominates the list of top 20 safest small towns and cities. Two are in Connecticut, three are in New Jersey, four are in New York and three are in Massachusetts.

But not all small towns are safe havens. Saginaw, Michigan, has the highest violent crime rate of all the small towns and cities analyzed. Atlantic City, New Jersey, has the highest property crime rate, MoneyGeek found. When it comes to the cost of crime, the residents of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, pay the highest price.

The 20 safest small towns and cities in the U.S., according to MoneyGeek's analysis, are:

Rank	City	Crime cost per capita	Violent crime rate (per 100k residents)	Property crime rate	Total crime cost (in millions)
1	Columbus, IN	$22	19	112	$1,130
2	Wallingford, CT	$40	9	476	$1,748
3	Lone Peak, UT	$41	13	279	$1,254
4	Zionsville, IN	$52	21	279	$1,704
5	Monroe Township, Middlesex County, NJ	$55	27	227	$2,647
6	Yorktown Town, NY	$57	20	675	$1,993
7	Carmel Town, NY	$64	32	307	$2,170
8	Wallkill Town, NY	$68	16	994	$2,154
9	Upper Arlington, OH	$70	14	920	$2,498
10	Lexington, MA	$74	29	294	$2,503
11	Shrewsbury, MA	$78	27	608	$3,187
12	Wellesley, MA	$79	26	433	$2,460
13	North Royalton, OH	$85	29	326	$2,603
14	North Huntingdon Township, PA	$86	35	611	$2,746
15	Rancho Santa Margarita, CA	$91	48	433	$4,201
16	Harrison Town, NY	$93	23	643	$2,786
17	Westfield, NJ	$95	16	866	$2,890
18	Greenwich, CT	$95	24	936	$6,056
19	Stafford Township, NJ	$97	20	1109	$2,968
20	Mason, OH	$101	28	580	$3,618

On the whole, the country is getting safer from violent crime, the FBI said earlier this year. In an analysis of 2023 data, the FBI found overall violent crime dropped 3% from the year before. Murders and non-negligent manslaughter rates dropped even more.

On the other hand, one type of property crime spiked pretty substantially. Motor vehicle theft was up about 13% in 2023, the FBI found.

The FBI's nationwide analysis depends on its Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Since not all agencies in the U.S. participate, the data is incomplete. However, it's pretty thorough. Last year's reported included data from 16,000 agencies around the country.

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