Cities With the Lowest Crime Rates (2025)

By Cassandra McBride

Last Updated: Mar 2, 2026

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Cassandra McBride

With a Criminology and Sociology background, Cassandra blends advocacy and research to write data-driven articles on the outdoors, politics, and firearms. A staunch Second Amendment supporter, she empowers women through firearm training. At Ammo.com, her work sheds light on gun deaths, ownership trends, and overlooked angles in gun debates.

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Related Studies: Urban Violent Crime and Legal Gun Ownership, States With the Highest Murder Rates, Defensive Gun Use Statistics: Self-Defense Cases

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Methodology

Data presented in this report is sourced from a variety of databases and reputable publications.

Violent crime rates in the United States are drawn primarily from the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer, which aggregates figures reported by law enforcement agencies. We cross-referenced this data with other sources (municipal reports) to improve accuracy. Only cities with at least 250,000 people were included, as smaller towns and cities often report lower violent crime rates, making meaningful comparisons with larger urban centers difficult.

This report ranks each state’s safest city using the 2024 FBI Crime Data Explorer, which follows a national definition of violent crime (i.e. homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault). Each city has 12 months of reporting in 2024 to ensure accuracy. Per capita rates were calculated to overcome population inconsistencies.

To balance stability and coverage, the population threshold was set at >50,000 because cities with lower population sizes often have skewed per capita rates. Exceptions were made for states with fewer than three >50,000+ cities reporting violent crime rates in 2024.

This report is intended as an informational comparison – not an absolute ranking. Data limitations and variations in reporting mean that the figures should be understood as a benchmark for context rather than a definitive measure of safety.

Cities With the Lowest Crime Rates in The U.S.

There are many safe cities in the U.S. Large cities like Irvine, CA and Virginia Beach, VA rank among the lowest (83.97 and 92.28 per 100,000, respectively). Other sizable cities, such as Gilbert, AZ, Plano, TX and Honolulu, HI also report crime rates well below the national average of 361 per 100,000.

Disclaimer: Large cities in this section are defined as those with 250,000 or more residents. Some cities fitting this population size may not have reported crime data to the FBI. Their information is therefore not included in our list.

Safest Cities in the U.S. by State

The safest cities with a population of 50,000 or more in each state are listed below. Exceptions were necessary but are noted accordingly.

Disclaimer: The 12-month reporting requirement excluded partially counted or artificially low rates from this list to ensure that only truly safe cities are included..

Jump Links: AL | AK | AZ | AR | CA | CO | CT | DE | FL | GA | HI | ID | IL | IN | IA | KS | KY | LA | ME | MD | MA | MI | MN | MS | MO | MT | NE | NV | NH | NJ | NM | NY | NC | ND | OH | OK | OR | PA | RI | SC | SD | TN | TX | UT | VT | VA | WA | WV | WI | WY

Alabama

Alaska

Exception: Alaska has fewer than three cities reporting violent rates for 2024. Therefore, the population threshold has been lowered.

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Exception: Delaware has fewer than three cities reporting violent rates for 2024. Therefore, the population threshold has been lowered.

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Exception: Hawaii has only one municipality with a population over 50,000. Some areas may have lower violent crime rates.

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Exception: Maine has fewer than three cities reporting violent rates for 2024. Therefore, the population threshold has been lowered.

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Exception: Mississippi has fewer than three cities reporting violent rates for 2024. Therefore, the population threshold has been lowered.

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Exception: Vermont has fewer than three cities reporting violent rates for 2024. Therefore, the population threshold has been lowered.

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Exception: West Virginia has fewer than three cities reporting violent rates for 2024. Therefore, the population threshold has been lowered.

Wisconsin

Wyoming

Wrap Up

Irvine, CA and Virginia Beach, VA are the safest large cities in the U.S. with populations over 250,000 people. Violent crime rates vary across the nation, but using the FBI Crime Data Explorer provides uniformity and fair comparisons among cities in each state. Although many cities did not qualify for this report due to data limitations, the cities listed above are among the safest in the U.S. nevertheless.

Sources

1. FBI Crime Data Explorer
2. Safest Places to Live in the U.S.: 2025-2026

Written by

Cassandra McBride