Vermont continues its safety streak to remain one of the safest states in the nation, according to research firm SafeWise. The Green Mountain State beats national rates for both violent and property crime. Vermont comes in with 2.07 violent crimes per 1,000 – half the national rate of 4.49. And the safest cities did even better – each of them saw fewer than 1.50 violent crimes per 1,000 citizens.
The strong safety record continues when you look at property crimes across the state. Vermont had 19.89 incidents per 1,000, compared to 27.11 nationwide.
70 percent of this year’s cities are repeats – Shelburne and Middlebury traded places this year to make Shelburne No. 1, with only one violent crime reported.
No murders were reported among the safest cities, and only three cities had any motor vehicle theft or arson.
Each safest city reported 25 or fewer total violent crimes, with 80 percent reporting 10 or fewer.
Property crime was under 18 incidents per 1,000 in every city.
Digital security is Vermont’s most concerning issue, as reported on the State of Safety study. In the past year, 28 percent reported a personal experience with digital security (versus 24 percent nationwide).
The top violent crime concern is robbery, but half the safest cities reported zero robberies. The biggest number reported was five each in Colchester and Essex.
Top 10 safest cities in Vermont
1. Shelburne
2. Middlebury
3. Williston
4. Milton
5. Essex
6. Randolph
7. Swanton
8. Morristown
9. Barre
10. Colchester
Rutland ranked 22nd, behind Burlington at 19 and Brattleboro at 18. Springfield was 16 and Hartford 17. No other towns in Rutland or Windsor County were included in the report.
SafeWise relies on information that cities across the country report through the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program. Cities not listed could be due to incomplete UCR data or because a town doesn’t meet the population thresholds set for each state. SafeWise determines this threshold by identifying the median city population in each state and only reports on cities with populations above the median. This reduces the risk of outliers and lowers the likelihood of an extreme outlier skewing the data.
For more information visit safewise.com
