Idaho posted significantly lower-than-average property and violent crime rates in 2018, earning it a spot in the top 10 safest states in the U.S. The Gem State is the fastest growing in the nation, and while a growing population often indicates an uptick in crime, rates in Idaho actually dropped in 2018, overall (although violent crime went up slightly). What’s more, Idaho’s 5 safest cities all recorded crime rates below the national averages in both major categories.
Rexburg is the safest city in Idaho. The rapidly growing Madison County city logged just 5 violent crimes in 2018, for a violent crime rate considerably lower than any other in the state. Rexburg also distinguishes itself with its low level of property crime, which is less-than-a-quarter of national levels.
Idaho’s 2nd safest city is Meridian, which, with a population of over 103K, is the 3rd largest city in the state. Though Meridian’s crime figures aren’t quite on par with #1 Rexburg’s, the city did really well in 2018, logging a violent crime rate less-than-half of the national rate.
3rd in the ranking is Moscow, a city of around 25K near the Washington border that is home to the University of Idaho. While college towns often witness elevated levels of crime, Moscow recorded a low violent crime rate of 0.51 offenses per 1,000 in 2018, the 2nd lowest in Idaho by a wide margin.
Two cities with “Falls” in their names fill out the countdown of Idaho’s 5 safest cities: Post Falls and Idaho Falls. Post Falls, a suburb of Coeur d’Alene in Kootenai County, is #4 on the list. In 2018, the city earned violent and property crime rates below statewide levels. Not far behind is Idaho Falls (#5), the commercial and cultural hub of eastern Idaho, which had crime rates slightly below national levels in 2018.
Idaho’s Safest Cities
ID City Population Violent
crimeProperty
crimeLaw enforcement
employeesTotal crimes Crime rate per 1,000 Violent crimes per 1,000 Property crimes per 1,000 Law enforcement per 1,000
1 Rexburg 28765 5 135 39 140 4.87 0.17 4.69 1.36
2 Meridian 103774 165 1260 135 1425 13.73 1.59 12.14 1.30
3 Moscow 25339 13 394 40 407 16.06 0.51 15.55 1.58
4 Post Falls 34144 69 578 75 647 18.95 2.02 16.93 2.20
5 Idaho Falls 61643 206 960 131 1166 18.92 3.34 15.57 2.13
6 Mountain Home 14220 38 260 36 298 20.96 2.67 18.28 2.53
7 Jerome 11738 31 179 20 210 17.89 2.64 15.25 1.70
8 Coeur d’Alene 51650 188 972 109 1160 22.46 3.64 18.82 2.11
9 Boise 229265 635 4627 376 5262 22.95 2.77 20.18 1.64
10 Blackfoot 11910 40 315 30 355 29.81 3.36 26.45 2.52
11 Twin Falls 49908 225 1180 95 1405 28.15 4.51 23.64 1.90
12 Nampa 95386 268 2424 178 2692 28.22 2.81 25.41 1.87
13 Caldwell 55936 183 1202 80 1385 24.76 3.27 21.49 1.43
14 Pocatello 55317 209 1568 131 1777 32.12 3.78 28.35 2.37
15 Garden City 12025 82 354 34 436 36.26 6.82 29.44 2.83
16 Lewiston 32949 48 1007 68 1055 32.02 1.46 30.56 2.06
17 Chubbuck 14998 55 678 36 733 48.87 3.67 45.21 2.40
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.
