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Mapped: The Safest Cities in the U.S.

Published

3 months ago

July 12, 2023

Avery Koop

map of the safest cities in the U.S.

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Mapped: The Safest Cities in America

The phrase “small town America” often conjures up images of white picket fences, well-trimmed lawns, and big houses. But how safe is modern-day suburbia in America?

Some of the smallest places in the country can actually be among the most dangerous. Take for example Bessemer, Alabama, with a population of around 26,000 and a violent crime rate of 33.1 per every 1,000 residents.

That said, there are many small cities that are true havens for families across the United States. This map showcases the safest cities in the U.S., using FBI data and Census Bureau populations compiled by NeighborhoodScout in 2023.

Note: The source only considered cities with a population of 25,000 or higher. This report is based on total index crimes reported in each city, which includes arson, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, murder, rape, armed robbery, and aggravated assault.

Top 100 Safest Cities in the U.S.

40% of the cities in the ranking are located in Northeastern states, which are typically rated the “safest” based on FBI data.

Here’s a closer look at the full list:

Rank	City	State	Total Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents)	Chance of Being a Victim
1	Ridgefield	Connecticut	1.9	1 in 510
2	Franklin	Massachusetts	2.9	1 in 344
3	Lake in the Hills	Illinois	3.1	1 in 321
4	Marshfield	Massachusetts	3.3	1 in 300
5	Arlington	Massachusetts	3.4	1 in 292
6	Fulshear	Texas	3.6	1 in 276
7	Zionsville	Indiana	3.6	1 in 275
8	Lexington	Massachusetts	3.7	1 in 270
9	Muskego	Wisconsin	3.8	1 in 265
10	Rexburg	Idaho	3.9	1 in 253
11	Independence	Kentucky	3.9	1 in 253
12	Oswego	Illinois	4.1	1 in 238
13	Milton	Massachusetts	4.2	1 in 233
14	Needham	Massachusetts	4.2	1 in 233
15	White Lake	Michigan	4.2	1 in 233
16	Avon Lake	Ohio	4.3	1 in 232
17	Madison	Mississippi	4.5	1 in 221
18	Wakefield	Massachusetts	4.5	1 in 218
19	Windsor	Colorado	4.5	1 in 218
20	South Kingstown	Rhode Island	4.7	1 in 212
21	Colleyville	Texas	4.8	1 in 206
22	West Bloomfield	Michigan	4.9	1 in 204
23	Johns Creek	Georgia	4.9	1 in 202
24	Billerica	Massachusetts	5.1	1 in 195
25	Mason	Ohio	5.1	1 in 192
26	Reading	Massachusetts	5.1	1 in 192
27	North Andover	Massachusetts	5.2	1 in 190
28	Wellesley	Massachusetts	5.2	1 in 189
29	Mundelein	Illinois	5.3	1 in 187
30	Brandon	Mississippi	5.3	1 in 186
31	Cumberland	Rhode Island	5.4	1 in 184
32	Andover	Massachusetts	5.4	1 in 182
33	Edwardsville	Illinois	5.5	1 in 178
34	Little Elm	Texas	5.6	1 in 176
35	Merrimack	New Hampshire	5.7	1 in 172
36	Waltham	Massachusetts	5.8	1 in 169
37	Wylie	Texas	5.9	1 in 169
38	Commerce Township	Michigan	5.9	1 in 169
39	Milton	Georgia	5.9	1 in 167
40	Melrose	Massachusetts	6.0	1 in 164
41	Ballwin	Missouri	6.1	1 in 162
42	North Kingstown	Rhode Island	6.1	1 in 162
43	Beverly	Massachusetts	6.2	1 in 161
44	Rochester Hills	Michigan	6.2	1 in 160
45	Keller	Texas	6.3	1 in 158
46	Shrewsbury	Massachusetts	6.4	1 in 156
47	Dracut	Massachusetts	6.4	1 in 155
48	Prosper	Texas	6.4	1 in 155
49	Newton	Massachusetts	6.5	1 in 152
50	Friendswood	Texas	6.5	1 in 152
51	McHenry	Illinois	6.5	1 in 152
52	Fort Mill	South Carolina	6.6	1 in 151
53	Wallingford	Connecticut	6.8	1 in 146
54	Caledonia	Wisconsin	6.9	1 in 144
55	Belmont	Massachusetts	6.9	1 in 144
56	De Pere	Wisconsin	6.9	1 in 143
57	Flower Mound	Texas	7.0	1 in 142
58	Easton	Massachusetts	7.0	1 in 141
59	Highland Park	Illinois	7.0	1 in 141
60	Carmel	Indiana	7.2	1 in 138
61	Sachse	Texas	7.2	1 in 138
62	Algonquin	Illinois	7.2	1 in 137
63	Hendersonville	Tennessee	7.2	1 in 137
64	San Luis	Arizona	7.3	1 in 136
65	Fishers	Indiana	7.3	1 in 135
66	Perrysburg	Ohio	7.4	1 in 135
67	Lake Stevens	Washington	7.4	1 in 134
68	Cheshire	Connecticut	7.4	1 in 134
69	Milford	Massachusetts	7.5	1 in 132
70	Saratoga Springs	Utah	7.5	1 in 132
71	Bella Vista	Arkansas	7.5	1 in 132
72	Princeton	New Jersey	7.5	1 in 131
73	Bluffton	South Carolina	7.6	1 in 130
74	Novi	Michigan	7.6	1 in 130
75	Chelmsford	Massachusetts	7.6	1 in 130
76	Amherst	Massachusetts	7.7	1 in 129
77	Rosemount	Minnesota	7.7	1 in 129
78	Gloucester	Massachusetts	7.7	1 in 129
79	Syracuse	Utah	7.8	1 in 127
80	Waukee	Iowa	7.8	1 in 126
81	Mequon	Wisconsin	7.9	1 in 126
82	Westfield	Indiana	7.9	1 in 126
83	Spring Hill	Tennessee	7.9	1 in 126
84	Upper Arlington	Ohio	7.9	1 in 126
85	Rahway	New Jersey	7.9	1 in 125
86	Montclair	New Jersey	7.9	1 in 125
87	Greenwich	Connecticut	8.0	1 in 125
88	Hutto	Texas	8.0	1 in 124
89	Vestavia Hills	Alabama	8.0	1 in 123
90	Brownsburg	Indiana	8.1	1 in 123
91	Wilmette	Illinois	8.1	1 in 123
92	New Milford	Connecticut	8.1	1 in 122
93	Hilliard	Ohio	8.2	1 in 120
94	Royal Oak	Michigan	8.2	1 in 120
95	Derry	New Hampshire	8.3	1 in 121
96	Dublin	Ohio	8.3	1 in 120
97	West Warwick	Rhode Island	8.5	1 in 116
98	Watertown	Massachusetts	8.5	1 in 116
99	Walpole	Massachusetts	8.6	1 in 115
100	Kaysville	Utah	8.6	1 in 115

One quarter of the safest cities are located in Massachusetts, with the vast majority clustered around Boston.

The median population of the cities and towns in the top 100 is just 32,000, and few widely-recognized cities make the list. Carmel, Indiana (#60) is the only city with a population above 100,000 to make the rankings. This would seem to follow the logic that bigger cities are more dangerous, but our map covering the most dangerous cities in America shows that many small cities were just as dangerous, and some even more.

Regardless, small towns can truly be idyllic. For example, a person’s chance of falling victim to crime in Ridgefield, Connecticut, the safest ranked city in the U.S., is just 1-in-510. That’s an overall rate of fewer than two incidents of crime per every 1,000 residents.

One surprising observation from the data is that many of the safest U.S. cities are in very close proximity to some of the most dangerous.

safest cities in the US location

One example that illustrates this is Detroit, which ranks as the sixth most dangerous city in America. Despite this, as shown on the map above, there are four communities nearby that have some of the lowest crime rates in America.

In other words, America’s metro areas contain much contrast, and these insights provide valuable information for individuals and families seeking secure places to live across the country.

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United States

Mapped: How Much Does it Take to be the Top 1% in Each U.S. State?

An annual income anywhere between $360,000-$950,000 can grant entry into the top 1%—depending on where you live in America.

Published

6 days ago

September 25, 2023

Pallavi Rao

A cropped map of the U.S. listing the annual income needed to be in the top 1% in each state.

How Much Does it Take to be the Top 1% in Each U.S. State?

There’s an old saying: everyone thinks that they’re middle-class.

But how many people think, or know, that they really belong to the top 1% in the country?

Data from personal finance advisory services company, SmartAsset, reveals the annual income threshold at which a household can be considered part of the top 1% in their state.

Some states demand a much higher yearly earnings from their residents to be a part of the rarefied league, but which ones are they, and how much does one need to earn to make it to the very top echelon of income?

Ranking U.S. States By Income to Be in the Top 1%

At the top of the list, a household in Connecticut needs to earn nearly $953,000 annually to be part of the one-percenters. This is the highest minimum threshold across the country.

In the same region, Massachusetts requires a minimum annual earnings of $903,401 from its top 1% residents.

Here’s the list of all 50 U.S. states along with the annual income needed to be in the 1%.

Rank	State	Top 1% Income Threshold	Top 1% Tax Rate (% of annual income)
1	Connecticut	$952,902	28.40%
2	Massachusetts	$903,401	27.15%
3	California	$844,266	26.95%
4	New Jersey	$817,346	28.01%
5	Washington	$804,853	25.99%
6	New York	$776,662	28.29%
7	Colorado	$709,092	25.86%
8	Florida	$694,987	25.82%
9	Illinois	$660,810	26.35%
10	New Hampshire	$659,037	26.25%
11	Wyoming	$656,118	24.79%
12	Virginia	$643,848	26.11%
N/A	National Average	$652,657	N/A
13	Maryland	$633,333	25.94%
14	Texas	$631,849	25.83%
15	Utah	$630,544	23.77%
16	Minnesota	$626,451	25.53%
17	Nevada	$603,751	25.19%
18	South Dakota	$590,373	22.99%
19	Pennsylvania	$588,702	24.95%
20	North Dakota	$585,556	24.76%
21	Georgia	$585,397	25.06%
22	Oregon	$571,813	24.66%
23	Arizona	$564,031	25.22%
24	Idaho	$560,040	23.17%
25	North Carolina	$559,762	25.31%
26	Montana	$559,656	24.46%
27	Kansas	$554,912	25.03%
28	Rhode Island	$548,531	25.26%
29	Tennessee	$548,329	25.12%
30	Alaska	$542,824	25.38%
31	Nebraska	$535,651	24.10%
32	Delaware	$529,928	25.37%
33	Vermont	$518,039	23.63%
34	Wisconsin	$517,321	24.90%
35	South Carolina	$508,427	24.40%
36	Michigan	$504,671	25.01%
37	Maine	$502,605	24.04%
38	Missouri	$500,626	24.93%
39	Ohio	$500,253	25.09%
40	Hawaii	$495,263	24.12%
41	Iowa	$483,985	24.09%
42	Indiana	$473,685	24.55%
43	Alabama	$470,341	23.82%
44	Oklahoma	$460,172	23.68%
45	Louisiana	$458,269	24.80%
46	Arkansas	$450,700	21.11%
47	Kentucky	$445,294	24.14%
48	New Mexico	$411,395	23.35%
49	Mississippi	$381,919	23.04%
50	West Virginia	$367,582	23.26%
N/A	National Median Household Income	$75,000	N/A

California ($844,266), New Jersey ($817,346), and Washington ($804,853) round out the top five states with the highest minimum thresholds to make it to their exclusive rich club.

On the other end of the spectrum, the top one-percenters in West Virginia make a minimum of $367,582 a year, the lowest of all the states, and about one-third of the threshold in Connecticut. And just down southwest of the Mountain State, Mississippi’s one-percenters need to make at least $381,919 a year to qualify for the 1%.

A quick glance at the map above also reveals some regional insights.

The Northeast and West Coast, with their large urban and economic hubs, have higher income entry requirements for the top 1% than states in the American South.

This also correlates to the median income by state, a measure showing Massachusetts households make nearly $90,000 a year, compared to Mississippians who take home $49,000 annually.

How Much Do the Top 1% Pay in Taxes?

Meanwhile, if one does make it to the top 1% in states like Connecticut and Massachusetts, expect to pay more in taxes than other states, according to SmartAsset’s analysis.

A chart showing how states with the top highest and lowest average tax rates for their top 1% residents.

The one-percenters in the top five states pay, on average, between 26–28% of their income in tax, compared to those in the bottom five who pay between 21–23%.

And this pattern exists through the dataset, with higher top 1% income thresholds correlating with higher average tax rates for the wealthy.

State Ranks	Median Tax Rate
Top 10	26.65%
20-30	25.09%
30-40	24.65%
10-20	25.07%
40-50	23.75%

These higher tax rates point to attempts to reign in the increasing wealth disparity in the nation where the top 1% hold more than one-third of the country’s wealth, up from 27% in 1989.

Where Does This Data Come From?

Source: SmartAsset’s America’s Top 1% Is Different in Each State uses data from 2020 individual tax filings from the IRS, adjusted to 2023 dollars using the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index.