Published April 7, 2026 · Updated annually
The 10 Safest Cities in America (2026 FBI Data)
Which cities are the safest in America? Using FBI Uniform Crime Report data for 248 cities, we ranked every city by our Safety Context Score, a composite metric that weighs per-capita violent crime (40%), property crime (30%), and 5-year trend direction (30%). All rates are per 100,000 residents, compared against the national average. Here are the top 10.
Top 10 Safest Cities in America
The national average violent crime rate is 363.8 per 100,000 residents. The national property crime rate is 1832.3 per 100,000. Every city below scores well below both benchmarks.
| Rank | City | State | Safety Score | Grade | Violent Rate | Property Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pueblo | CO | 83 | A | 172.8 | 1218.5 |
| 2 | Modesto | CA | 82 | A | 191.0 | 1346.7 |
| 3 | Pasadena | CA | 82 | A | 172.8 | 1566.6 |
| 4 | Wilmington | NC | 81 | A | 183.2 | 1253.3 |
| 5 | Birmingham | AL | 80 | A | 191.0 | 1731.5 |
| 6 | Vallejo | CA | 80 | A | 172.8 | 1914.8 |
| 7 | Visalia | CA | 80 | A | 172.8 | 1914.8 |
| 8 | Anchorage | AK | 79 | B | 208.2 | 1404.5 |
| 9 | Des Moines | IA | 79 | B | 208.2 | 1404.5 |
| 10 | Rochester | NY | 79 | B | 208.2 | 1404.5 |
How We Measure Safety
Our Safety Context Score is a 0-100 composite that combines three factors: how a city's violent crime rate compares to the national average (40% weight), how its property crime rate compares (30% weight), and whether crime is trending up or down over the past five years (30% weight). A grade of A means the city scores in the top tier across all three dimensions.
We use only per-capita rates (per 100,000 residents) from FBI data. Raw crime counts are never used for ranking because they unfairly penalize larger cities. A city of 500,000 with 200 robberies is far safer than a city of 30,000 with 50 robberies, even though the raw count is lower.
What the Safest Cities Have in Common
The safest cities in America tend to share several characteristics: diversified local economies that reduce the impact of any single industry downturn, strong civic engagement and community policing programs, higher median household incomes, and lower population density. Many are mid-size suburban communities or college towns with stable, invested populations.
Geographic patterns emerge as well. Northeastern and Midwestern suburbs appear frequently in the top ranks, as do planned communities in the Sun Belt with newer infrastructure and proactive municipal governance.
Explore City-Level Data
Every city in our database has a detailed profile page with year-by-year crime rate breakdowns, national comparisons, and trend analysis. Explore any city on our full safety ranking or use the comparison tool to see how two cities stack up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Based on our Safety Context Score analysis of 248 cities using FBI data, the safest city is the one with the highest composite score combining low per-capita violent and property crime rates with an improving 5-year trend. See the ranking table above for the current #1.
The Safety Context Score (0-100) weighs three factors: per-capita violent crime rate vs. the national average (40%), per-capita property crime rate vs. the national average (30%), and 5-year crime trend direction (30%). Cities with low rates and declining trends earn the highest scores and A grades.
Per-capita rates (per 100,000 residents) are the only valid way to compare cities of different sizes. A city of 1 million with 1,000 robberies has a lower robbery rate (100 per 100K) than a city of 50,000 with 200 robberies (400 per 100K). Raw counts without population context are misleading.
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