There’s an “Indiana” listed among the Top 10 100 safest cities compiled by home security firm Safewise, but it’s not in the Hoosier State.
Indiana Township, Pennsylvania, was determined to be the sixth safest city in the United States, which has a population of 7,389, according to Safewise.
Unfortunately, an Indiana city doesn’t properly appear on Safewise’s list until the mid-20s, with Columbus, Indiana, taking the title of the 24th safest city in the country and the safest city in Indiana.
Notably, Columbus dethroned Zionsville as the state’s safest city. This year, Zionsville dropped to the country’s 66th safest city and the fourth safest city in the state on the list.
Columbus, Indiana, was also the largest city on Safewise’s list, housing a population of 51,658 residents; the next largest city was Lexington, Massachusetts, housing 34,044 residents.
The city also did not report a homicide in 2024, according to Safewise.
To determine what cities are considered “safe,” Safewise researchers analyzed self-reported FBI crime data from local law enforcement agencies across the country, as well as speaking with residents to determine how safe they feel in their communities.
Researchers then analyzed violent crime rate cases and property crime rate cases per 1,000 people to determine a relative score.
The average violent crime rate among the safest cities was 0.2 incidents per 1,000 people, which was 94% lower compared to the national rate of 3.6 incidents, according to Safewise.
The property crime rate among the safest cities was 2.4 incidents per 1,000 people, which was 87% lower compared to the national rate of 19.1 incidents, according to Safewise.
Where did Indiana cities rank in the Top 100
Notably, Columbus and St. John appeared high on this year’s list even though both cities are new additions to Safewise’s safest cities lists, having not appeared on any prior lists.
In this year’s report, it noted that Columbus only reported 10 violent crimes, all of which were robberies. All of the city’s 57 property crimes were burglaries.
St. John and Dyer reported zero murders, rapes, and robberies, according to Safewise’s report.
Where is Columbus?
Top 10 Safest Cities in Indiana
Chesterton and Batesville did not appear on the state’s Top 10 list, even though the two cities appeared on Safewise’s Top 100 safest cities in the country rankings.
Safewise doesn’t highlight this discrepancy in its report, but it should be noted that for the company’s Top 10 list, researchers analyze additional data in this new report, like package thefts and gun violence.
Safewise highlights Fishers and Carmel as two cities with high safety scores despite each having populations exceeding 100,000. It makes the cities’ “low crime rates even more impressive,” according to Safewise.
Contact IndyStar reporter Noe Padilla at npadilla@indystar.com, follow him on X @1NoePadilla or on Bluesky @noepadilla.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Zionsville dethroned as Indiana’s safest city, according to one list. Here’s what it says
Reporting by Noe Padilla, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
