When choosing a location to buy a house, “safety” is a key factor for potential homeowners to consider. Houses from safe communities are in high demand, which also translates to higher prices. Taking this into account, SmartAsset has ranked 360 suburbs of major cities in the United States from safest to least safe to help homebuyers assess the value of living costs in the area and the affordability of housing in secure communities.
The ranking evaluates the safety level of a community by comparing common indicators such as violent crime rate, property crime rate, motor vehicle death rate, drug overdose death rate, and excessive drinking rate in different areas. The violent crime rate and property crime rate are based on data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), while the motor vehicle death rate, drug overdose death rate, and excessive drinking rate are based on county-level health ranking data.
The suburbs defined in this report must be located within a 15 to 45-minute drive of one of the nation’s top 100 cities and have a population of at least 5,000.
According to SmartAsset’s analysis, the safest suburbs in America are mainly located in the Western mountains, Midwest, and the East Coast, while many lower-ranking suburbs are in the South.
Among them, Lehi in Utah has the highest overall ranking. Lehi is located about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City, with the lowest excessive drinking rate (Utah has the lowest excessive drinking rate in the country), as well as low violent crime and property crime rates. Layton, located about a 25-minute drive north of Salt Lake City, ranks third overall.
According to SmartAsset’s rankings, here are the top 10 safest suburbs in 2024:
1. Lehi, Utah
2. Bethesda, Maryland
3. Layton, Utah
4. Rockville, Maryland
5. Great Falls, Virginia
6. Dacula, Georgia
7. Buford, Georgia
8. Elmhurst, Illinois
9. Oak Brook, Illinois
10. Edgewater, New Jersey
Based on statistics from the “Congressional Hill Report,” Lehi ranked sixth last year, following Great Falls, Virginia; Carmel, Indiana; and Bethesda, Maryland, among other suburbs. In this year’s new rankings, Great Falls and Bethesda maintained their positions in the top ten, while Carmel fell to 18th place.
Johnstown in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, stood out in the research for having the lowest violent crime rate, while Spring in the outskirts of Houston, Texas, had the lowest property crime rate. In these two categories of crime, Bernalillo in New Mexico had the highest crime rates, located about 18 miles north of Albuquerque.
According to SmartAsset’s report, the bottom ten suburbs in terms of safety ranking this year are:
1. Bernalillo, New Mexico
2. Lumberton, North Carolina
3. Scottsburg, Indiana
4. Petersburg, Virginia
5. Asheboro, North Carolina
6. Senatobia, Mississippi
7. DeLand, Florida
8. Plymouth, Massachusetts
9. Largo, Florida
10. Capitola, California