Safest Cities in Alabama – 2021

Last Updated on December 27, 2020

With a high violent crime rate of 5.20 per 1,000 and property crime rate of 28.17, Alabama is not among the safest states. However, the Cotton State’s safest cities recorded admirably low crime figures in 2018 that stand in contrast to Alabama’s statewide numbers. Let’s have a closer look at Alabama’s 5 safest communities.

Crime rate per 1,000

Law enforcement per 1,000

The safest city in Alabama is Mountain Brook, an affluent suburb of Birmingham with a population topping 20K. Mountain Brook’s 2018 violent crime rate of 0.79 per 1,000 was the 2nd lowest in the state, and while the city’s total crime rate wasn’t Alabama’s best, Mountain Brook is boosted in the ranking by its excellent law enforcement-to-residents ratio of 3.49 per 1,000.

Another wealthy Birmingham suburb, Vestavia Hills, earns the 2nd spot on the list. The city of 34,000 logged just 30 violent crimes in 2018, amounting to a rate of less than 1 offense per 1,000 people. Additionally, Vestavia Hills’ property crime rate is less-than-half of the statewide rate.

Ranking 3rd is Helena, a city of just over 19K in Jefferson and Shelby counties that has been named one of the “best places to live” by Money magazine. Helena’s violent crime rate of 3.15 per 1,000 is decent, if not spectacular, however, the city truly distinguishes itself through its excellent property crime rate, which is the lowest in the state by a considerable margin.

#4 Pelham is one of the fastest-growing cities in the state. Named for a Confederate Civil War officer and home to Oak Mountain State Park, Pelham logged a respectable 1.51 per 1,000 violent crime rate in 2018, as well as a property crime rate below the national average.

Daphne, a family-friendly city of 26.6K on the eastern shoreline of Mobile Bay, earns the 5th spot on the list. Boasting low rates of violent and property crime, as well as a high ratio of law enforcement-to-residents, Daphne is one of the best places to live in the Mobile area.

Alabama’s Safest Cities

AL	City	Population	Violent crime	Property crime	Law enforcement employees	Total crimes	Crime rate per 1,000	Violent crimes per 1,000	Property crimes per 1,000	Law enforcement per 1,000
1	Mountain Brook	20,373	16	228	71	244	11.98	0.79	11.19	3.49
2	Vestavia Hills	34,368	30	435	95	465	13.53	0.87	12.66	2.76
3	Helena	19,387	61	131	28	192	9.90	3.15	6.76	1.44
4	Pelham	23,785	36	404	85	440	18.50	1.51	16.99	3.57
5	Daphne	26,618	36	463	95	499	18.75	1.35	17.39	3.57
6	Pleasant Grove	10,105	16	127	20	143	14.15	1.58	12.57	1.98
7	Alabaster	33,501	92	579	84	671	20.03	2.75	17.28	2.51
8	Fairhope	21,688	43	537	62	580	26.74	1.98	24.76	2.86
9	Moody	13,134	56	206	20	262	19.95	4.26	15.68	1.52
10	Auburn	65,585	240	1396	143	1636	24.94	3.66	21.29	2.18
11	Homewood	25,523	75	956	121	1031	40.39	2.94	37.46	4.74
12	Saraland	14,704	51	490	57	541	36.79	3.47	33.32	3.88
13	Gulf Shores	12,014	24	497	64	521	43.37	2.00	41.37	5.33
14	Gardendale	13,907	94	347	39	441	31.71	6.76	24.95	2.80
15	Irondale	12,486	74	350	39	424	33.96	5.93	28.03	3.12
16	Northport	25,353	89	772	79	861	33.96	3.51	30.45	3.12
17	Foley	18,740	48	755	92	803	42.85	2.56	40.29	4.91
18	Cullman	15,470	32	629	73	661	42.73	2.07	40.66	4.72
19	Athens	26,177	13	768	59	781	29.84	0.50	29.34	2.25
20	Eufaula	11,905	75	469	56	544	45.70	6.30	39.40	4.70
21	Enterprise	28,464	127	809	68	936	32.88	4.46	28.42	2.39
22	Hueytown	15,367	71	531	45	602	39.17	4.62	34.55	2.93
23	Prattville	35,697	83	1221	87	1304	36.53	2.33	34.20	2.44
24	Sylacauga	12,186	77	614	72	691	56.70	6.32	50.39	5.91
25	Jacksonville	12,534	85	433	38	518	41.33	6.78	34.55	3.03
26	Opelika	30,822	168	1214	100	1382	44.84	5.45	39.39	3.24
27	Oxford	21,149	67	928	74	995	47.05	3.17	43.88	3.50
28	Florence	39,925	206	1663	134	1869	46.81	5.16	41.65	3.36
29	Tuscaloosa	101,764	514	4415	349	4929	48.44	5.05	43.38	3.43
30	Phenix City	36,668	235	1326	94	1561	42.57	6.41	36.16	2.56
31	Scottsboro	14,443	193	671	71	864	59.82	13.36	46.46	4.92
32	Dothan	68,530	670	2799	233	3469	50.62	9.78	40.84	3.40
33	Decatur	54,207	228	2308	148	2536	46.78	4.21	42.58	2.73
34	Montgomery	198,662	1216	8480	566	9696	48.81	6.12	42.69	2.85
35	Millbrook	15,410	44	728	45	772	50.10	2.86	47.24	2.92
36	Calera	14,334	265	429	38	694	48.42	18.49	29.93	2.65
37	Alexander City	14,548	314	610	66	924	63.51	21.58	41.93	4.54
38	Ozark	14,358	148	619	40	767	53.42	10.31	43.11	2.79
39	Mobile	245,475	1613	12094	715	13707	55.84	6.57	49.27	2.91
40	Troy	19,159	303	961	77	1264	65.97	15.82	50.16	4.02
41	Muscle Shoals	14,143	86	800	43	886	62.65	6.08	56.57	3.04
42	Jasper	13,512	74	1035	69	1109	82.08	5.48	76.60	5.11
43	Prichard	21,615	263	930	47	1193	55.19	12.17	43.03	2.17
44	Talladega	15,341	124	805	40	929	60.56	8.08	52.47	2.61
45	Birmingham	210,564	4025	13295	977	17320	82.26	19.12	63.14	4.64
46	Fairfield	10,625	224	855	67	1079	101.55	21.08	80.47	6.31
47	Gadsden	35,204	372	2495	135	2867	81.44	10.57	70.87	3.83
48	Hartselle	14,385	61	353	6	414	28.78	4.24	24.54	0.42
49	Anniston	21,592	646	1696	90	2342	108.47	29.92	78.55	4.17

Methodology

To identify the safest cities, we reviewed the most recent FBI Uniform Crime Report statistics. We eliminated any cities that failed to submit a complete crime report to the FBI and cities with populations under 10,000. This left 3,381 cities (out of a total of 9,251).

There are two broad classifications of crimes: violent crimes and non-violent crimes. According to the FBI, “Violent crime is composed of four offenses: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Violent crimes are defined in the UCR Program as those offenses that involve force or threat of force. Property crime includes the offenses of burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. The object of the theft-type offenses is the taking of money or property, but there is no force or threat of force against the victims. ”

We computed the total number of crimes reported by each city by adding violent crimes and property crimes. We then created a crime rate as the number of crimes per 1,000 population. Then we transformed the total crime rate variable so that the skewness was reduced and normalized.

Data from 2,831 law enforcement agencies was then collected to determine police adequacy (TotalCrimes / Number of police employees). We consider that the smaller the police adequacy statistic is, the safer the city is. This variable was also transformed and normalized.

Finally, the two variables were combined to create a safety score for each city.

Safest Cities in Alabama – 2021

Alabama’s Safest Cities

Methodology

Information

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