3 California suburbs among the safest in the U.S., study finds

The quality of the schools, the commute, and the nearest brunch spot — are all factors you might consider before moving to a suburb. Another is safety.

The perceived safety of an area—which can be influenced by things like property crime and motor vehicle deaths—can also impact a home’s value.

SmartAsset, a personal finance website, reviewed 360 suburbs across major metro areas in the U.S. and analyzed them based on multiple safety-related metrics: violent crime rates and property crime rates based on FBI data as well as rates of adults engaging in excessive drinking and deaths related to traffic accidents and drug poisonings from County Health Rankings .

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To be considered a “suburb” for this report, a place needed to be within a 15- to 45-minute drive of one of the nation’s 100 largest cities and have a population of at least 5,000.

According to SmartAsset’s analysis, the safest suburbs were primarily in the Mountain West, Midwest, and East Coast, while many of the lower-ranking suburbs were in the South.

Ranking highest overall, though, was Lehi, Utah. Located roughly 30 miles south of Salt Lake City, Lehi had the lowest rate of excessive drinking (Utah as a whole has the lowest excessive drinking rate in the nation), as well as low rates of violent and property crimes. Nearby Layton, a 25-minute drive north of Salt Lake City, ranked third overall.

Palo Alto was the highest-ranking California suburb at 11, followed by Mountain View and Pacific at 14 and 15, respectively. All three are located in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Below are the 15 safest suburbs of 2024, according to SmartAsset’s rankings:

Lehi, Utah

Bethesda, Maryland

Layton, Utah

Rockville, Maryland

Great Falls, Virginia

Dacula, Georgia

Buford, Georgia

Elmhurst, Illinois

Oak Brook, Illinois

Edgewater, New Jersey

Palo Alto, California

Noblesville, Indiana

Naperville, Illinois

Mountain View, California

Pacifica, California

Last year, Lehi came in sixth overall, following suburbs like Great Falls, Virginia; Carmel, Indiana; and Bethesda, Maryland, which landed in the top three spots, respectively. While Great Falls and Bethesda maintained their top 10 status, Carmel dropped to No. 18 this year.

Johnstown, Ohio, just outside of Columbus, had the lowest violent crime rate in the study, while the Houston, Texas, suburb of Spring had the lowest property crime rate. Bernalillo, New Mexico, about 18 miles north of Albuquerque, had the worst rate in both categories.

Bernalillo was the lowest-ranked suburb overall this year. Coming in at the bottom of SmartAsset’s report were:

Bernalillo, New Mexico

Lumberton, North Carolina

Scottsburg, Indiana

Petersburg, Virginia

Asheboro, North Carolina

Senatobia, Mississippi

DeLand, Florida

Plymouth, Massachusetts

Largo, Florida

Capitola, California

Of the 27 Florida suburbs that made the list, only seven ranked among the top half of SmartAsset’s list.

SmartAsset’s full list and methodology can be found here .

Another recent analysis found Roswell, Georgia, which was No. 134 on SmartAsset’s report, is the best small city for safety and affordability, followed by Johns Creek, Georgia; Edmond, Oklahoma; and Mansfield, Texas. Johns Creek and Mansfield did not make SmartAsset’s list, while Edmond ranked No. 51.