s e l l e r s b u r g

America’s Safest Suburbs – 2023 Study

Posted on by Charlie Smith

Town of Sellersburg, Indiana ranked No. 62 in the U.S.

Published on June 7, 2023Written by Patrick Villanova, CEPF®

People often opt to move to the suburbs for myriad reasons – space, affordability, schools, employment and sometimes to seek safety. Violent and nonviolent crime rates, roadway safety, and drug and alcohol abuse within a community can affect the quality of life for an individual and family alike.

With this in mind, SmartAsset set out to determine which U.S. suburbs are safest. We analyzed safety data for 370 suburbs of the 100 largest cities – and also compared the affordability of the safest areas.

Data and Methodology

To find the safest suburbs, SmartAsset compared data for 370 places that are within 15 to 45 minutes of the 100 largest U.S. cities by car, that have at least 5,000 residents, by the following metrics:

  • Violent crime rate. The number of violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Data comes from the FBI’s 2021 Uniform Crime Reporting Database; missing crime data was supplemented by NeighborhoodScout.com
  • Property crime rate. The number of property crimes per 100,000 residents. Data comes from the FBI’s 2021 Uniform Crime Reporting Database; missing crime data was supplemented by NeighborhoodScout.com
  • Vehicular mortality rate. The number of deaths due to traffic accidents per 100,000 residents. Data is from the 2022 County Health Rankings.
  • Drug poisoning mortality rate. The number of drug poisoning deaths per 100,000 residents. Data is from the 2022 County Health Rankings.
  • Percentage of the population engaging in excessive drinking. The percentage of adults who consumed more than four drinks of alcohol for women or five drinks of alcohol for men on a single occasion over a 30-day period, or who engage in heavy drinking, which is defined as drinking more than one drink per day for women or two drinks a day for men on average. Data is from the 2022 County Health Rankings.

The vehicular mortality rate, drug poisoning mortality rate and percentage of the population engaging in excessive drinking are all measured at the county level. Both violent and property crime rates are at the city level.