Oregon is an outlier among U.S. states due its starkly contrasting rates of violent and property crime. Its violent crime rate of 2.82 per 1,000 is good for 15th lowest in the nation, yet its property crime rate is 7th highest in the U.S.

Regardless, a handful of Oregon cities are very safe and family friendly communities, with 8 of them scoring above a 0.2 on our Safety Index, which factors in FBI crime data along with law enforcement employment numbers to rate the safety of a given community. A score of 0.2 or higher indicates a very favorable level of public safety and crime rates below national averages. However, four Oregon cities truly distinguished themselves with Safety Index scores higher than 0.3. Let’s take a closer look at them.

Oregon’s safest community is Newberg-Dundee, actually two cities in the Portland area combined for statistical purposes.  Newberg-Dundee logged an impressive violent crime rate of 1.42 per 1,000 inhabitants.

Lake Oswego is Oregon’s second safest city. The affluent Clackamas County community recorded very impressive crime rates well below state and national averages, making it one of the best places in the state to live. In particular, Lake Oswego’s violent crime rate of 0.38 per 1,000 (about a tenth of the national average) stands out as an admirable achievement.

La Grande, a city of around 13K in the northeast part of the state, ranks #3 on the list, earning a Safety Index score of 0.36 based on the strength of its low rate of violent crime. #4 Sherwood bests La Grande in both violent and property crimes, which are some of the lowest in the state. Sherwood is kept out a higher position in the ranking due to its low ratio of law enforcement employees to residents, although with such a low rate of crime, perhaps a large police force is unnecessary.

Although Oklahoma’s statewide crime rates are not very impressive (the state is 40th in property crime and 39th in violent crime), many of the Sooner State’s cities are very safe, logging low rates of violent and property crime. Here’s a glance at Oklahoma’s five safest cities.

Weatherford earns the honor of being named Oklahoma’s safest city on the strength of a violent crime rate of just 1.64 per 1,000, which is less than half of the national average. The city’s below average property crime rate is not bad, either. 

In the #2 spot is Elk City, a city in Beckham County with remarkably low crime numbers. The city, a stop along Historic U.S. Route 66, logged a mere 9 violent crimes in 2017 for an average below 1 violent crime per 1,000. Elk City’s property crime rate is less impressive, yet still below the national average.

Oklahoma City suburb Yukon is #3 in the ranking of Oklahoma’s safest cities. Yukon’s violent crime rate is less than a third of the Oklahoma state average, making it a safe, family friendly community to settle down in for those commuting into OKC for work.

Fourth place, Miami is the capital city of Oklahoma’s Miami Tribe as well as that of four other Native tribes. While its crime rates are not as impressive as those of the state’s top three safest cities, Miami still logged violent and property crime rates under state and national averages.

At #5 is El Reno, another Oklahoma City suburb that posted a 2.77 per 1K violent crime rate and 17.2 per 1K property crime rate.

Though Ohio is in the midrange of U.S. states in terms of crime rates, with the 25th lowest property crime rate and 18th lowest violent crime rate, a considerable number of its cities earned very high scores on our Safety Index, which factors in FBI crime stats and law enforcement employment numbers to judge the safety of a community.

In all, 50 Ohio cities earned a Safety Index score of 0.3 or above, meaning they are very safe communities to live in, while 13 recorded a 0.6 or above, placing them in the upper echelon of U.S. cities in terms of safety. Let’s look at Ohio’s five safest cities to see the best the Buckeye State has to offer.

Maumee is Ohio’s safest city, earning a remarkably high 0.98 Safety Index score. The cozy community of around 14K logged a violent crime rate of 0.36 per 1,000, which is less than a tenth of the national average.

Similarly sized Brecksville recorded even more impressive crime rates, including a 0.15 per 1,000 rate of violent crime and 3.87 per 1,000 rate of property crime. Brecksville is in the #2 position because its ratio of law enforcement officers to residents is lower than #1 Maumee’s.

Ranking third, Cleveland suburb Solon continues Ohio’s streak of low-crime communities, managing a very low 0.56 violent crimes per 1,000 residents. At number four, Wickliffe is not far behind: the city of 12.6K recorded just 9 violent crimes in 2017 for a 0.77 Safety Index score.

New Albany rounds out Ohio’s top five safest communities. The Columbus area suburb recorded less than fifteen violent and property crimes combined in 2017.

When states are ranked in categories like public education or economic production, it is Mississippi’s perennial misfortune to rank at the low end of the spectrum. Such is not the case in regards to violent crime, as Mississippi’s violent crime rate is the 16th lowest in the country, so they are doing something correctly. However, there’s a lot of missing data in the FBI’s statistical data for Mississippi, indicating that we aren’t getting the entire picture of crime in the state. 

Nevertheless, a handful of Mississippi cities achieved very favorable scores on our Safety Index, which uses FBI crime statistics and law enforcement employment numbers to determine the safety of a community. Let’s take a look at these cities.

Madison is Mississippi’s safest city, scoring a very impressive 1.02 score on the Safety Index via an extremely low violent crime rate of 0.42 per 1,000 and property crime rate of 9.53 per 1,000, which is well below half of the state average.

Not far behind in terms of low crime rates and relative safety is #2 Petal. The delicately named city of about 10.7K recorded a property crime rate less than a third that of the Mississippi average of 27.34 per 1,000.

Byram, a small city in Hinds County, earns the title of Mississippi’s #3 safest city on the strength of a very good 1.59 per 1,000 violent crime rate. Byram is followed closely behind by #4 Oxford, a larger city with a similarly low violent crime rate and slightly higher levels of property crime.

Two more Mississippi cities earn the distinction of a Safety Index score topping 0.5: McComb (#5), of Pike County, and Brandon (#6), of Rankin County.

Perhaps Minnesota’s cold weather renders the prospect of committing crimes less enticing, considering that its violent crime rate (11th in the nation) and property crime rate (20th in the nation) compare favorably with those of the rest of the United States. Thinking about a move to Minnesota? Let’s take an in-depth look at the Land of 10,000 Lakes’ five safest cities for a good idea of where to settle in the state.

Big Lake is Minnesota’s safest city: the modest community of 10.7K recorded just 1 violent crime in 2017 for a near nonexistent rate of 0.09 per 1,000, while its low property crime rate of 5.5 per 1,000 is similarly impressive.

Orono is about twice the size as Big Lake, yet city posted similarly impressive rates of violent and property crime well below state and national averages.

Third in the ranking is Worthington, the county seat of Nobles County which recorded a not-too-shabby 1.59 per 1,000 violent crime rate as well as a 15.61 property crime rate, which is below the state average.

Lino Lakes, an outer Twin Cities suburb, placed #4 in the ranking of Minnesota’s safest cities. The peaceful community of 21,000 earned a 0.43 on our Safety Index, owing to a very low violent crime rate of 0.43 per 1,000.

Rounding out the list of Minnesota’s top five safest cities is Hutchinson. The city’s violent and property crime rates don’t rank among the state’s safest, but are well under the national averages in both categories.

Parts of Michigan are not very safe: troubled cities such as Detroit and Flint are plagued by high rates of violent crime several times above the national average. However, the Great Lakes State is also home to scores of extremely safe communities. 

In fact, 26 Michigan cities scored above a 0.3 on our Safety Index, which measures the safety of a given community based on crime rates and the size of its police force. Let’s take a look at the eight very safe Michigan cities that managed to score above a 0.8 on the Safety Index.

Michigan’s safest community is Grosse Ile Township, comprising twelve islands on the Detroit River. Perhaps island life keeps people living peacefully, as the community of just over 10,000 logged zero violent crimes in 2017.

Michigan’s #2 spot is shared by two communities each earning a high 0.78 Safety Index score: Beverly Hills and Grosse Pointe Park. The two affluent suburbs of Detroit both recorded violent and property crime rates below state and national averages, with Beverly Hills sticking out for its tiny 0.09 violent crimes per 1,000 inhabitants.

Ranking #4 is Berkley, another suburb of Detroit that earned a 0.7 Safety Index score based on a very low violent crime rate of 0.46 per 1,000 and a property crime rate of just 6.79 per 1,000, which is less than half of Detroit’s rate of violent crime.

#5 on the list is Farmington, logging a 0.67 on the Safety Index. The well-to-do Oakland County community notched a mere 4 violent crimes in 2017.

Three more cities in Michigan, Bloomfield Township, Grand Haven and Birmingham, earn the distinction of a 0.6+ Safety Index score, a high guarantee of their relative safety.

Massachusetts may have the highest concentration of very safe cities of any state in the United States. Remarkably, 98 cities in the state scored above a 0.3 on our Safety Index, which is a measure of the safety of a community based on local crime rates and the ratio of law enforcement employees to residents in the city. A score of 0.3 indicates that a city is quite safe and has very favorable violent and property crime rates compared to nationwide averages. 

What’s even more impressive is that 35 Massachusetts cities scored a 0.6 or above, meaning that any of them would be considered the safest city in a large number of states. However, let’s turn our focus towards Massachusetts five safest cities, each of which earned a Safety Index score higher than 0.8.

Massachusetts’ safest city is Weston, which logged just 5 property crimes in 2017, good for a very low 0.41 per 1,000 crime rate. Even more impressive is Weston’s property crime rate, which at 3.02 per 1,000, is lower than the national violent crime rate, a considerable feat. 

With a Safety Index score of 0.9, Clinton is not far behind Weston. The Worcester County city of nearly 14K achieved a similarly low violent crime rate and an even lower property crime rate of 2.46 per 1,000, indicating that residents of the city are some of the most law abiding citizens in the country.

Wayland continues Massachusetts safety streak by recording only 2 violent crimes in 2017 for a miniscule 1.43 per 1,000 inhabitants, along with just 9 property crimes in that same year.

Two more Massachusetts cities, #4 Norwell and #5 Bedford, earned Safety Index scores above 0.8. Both achieved a violent crime rate below 1 per 1,000 inhabitants and a property crime rate below 5 per 1,000, indicating that crime is a near non-factor in each community.

Although it’s overall violent and property crime rates are marred by the high crime in Baltimore, by far Maryland’s largest city, the Old Line State is home to many very safe communities. In fact, six Maryland cities scored a 0.6 or higher on our Safety Index, which rates the safety of U.S. cities on a variety of factors, including crime rates and the concentration of law enforcement.

Maryland’s safest city is Bel Air, which earned a 0.57 Safety Index score based on a violent crime rate well below the state average and a high 4.06 per 1,000 ratio of law enforcement employees to residents.

Ranking #2 is the eloquently named Havre de Grace, which recorded a decent violent crime rate below the state average, along with a very good 14.1 per 1,000 property crime rate.

The #3 spot belongs to Easton, a city of 16,598 that earned a 0.38 Safety Index score based on a violent crime rate of 2.29 per 1,000 inhabitants, which is less than half the state average, along with a comfortingly high law enforcement to resident ratio above 3 per 1,000.

Ocean Pines is the final Maryland city to score above a 0.3 on the Safety Index (it scored a 0.33), which it did by managing very impressive crime rates compared to the state, at large: a violent crime rate below 2 per 1,000 and a property crime below 7 per 1,000.

Two more cities in Maryland, Tacoma Park and Bowie, achieved Safety Index scores above 0.2. Both prove to be relatively safe places to live, recording violent crime rates considerably below the state average.