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To be one of the safest places within one of the safest states in the United States, well, that’s quite an accomplishment. But to be one of the safest places within one of the safest states two years in a row—well, that’s downright impressive.
Of course, not all of the 10 Minnesota places below also made our rankings last year. Some are brand new (like our winner, Hibbing), but some were so safe that we just had to list them twice. More on that in a moment. For now, here are the 10 safest places in Minnesota, the 2015 edition:
1. City of Hibbing
2. City of Lakeville
3. City of Lino Lakes (tie)
3. White Bear Township (tie)
5. City of Farmington
6. City of Chaska
7. City of Minnetonka
8. City of Maple Grove
9. City of Plymouth
10. City of Sartell
If you’re wondering how the Movoto Real Estate Blog comes up with these awesome lists, never fear, we’ll explain it in the next section. Then, we’ll go over just what makes each of these 10 places safer than the rest.
Our Methodology
A lot of things can change in a year, and crime rates seem to be no exception. That’s why we’re releasing this new, updated list, according to the 2013 FBI Uniform Crime Report.  We looked at all of the places on this list with populations of 10,000 people or more, according to the following criteria:
- Murders
- Rapes
- Robberies
- Assaults
- Burglaries
- Thefts
- Vehicle Thefts
We divided these crimes into four categories:
- Murders
- Violent Crimes
- Property Crimes
- Total Crimes
We calculated the crimes in each of these categories per person (or per capita) for each of these 90 places, and then ranked them all with scores from one to 90, where the lower scores were the safer places.
In order to take into account the different severity of crimes, we weighted murders, violent crimes, and property crimes to make up 30 percent of the overall score, while the total number of crimes made up just 10 percent.
Last, we averaged these weighted rankings into one overall Big Deal Score, where the lowest score went to our safest place.
To see how the top 50 safest places in the Gopher State ranked, you can pop down to the bottom of the post. Otherwise, let’s take a closer look at our top 10, starting with our safest place, Hibbing.
1. Hibbing
Let’s just say that the number of crimes reported here were shockingly low. Seriously—in 2013, Hibbing had a reported 10 crimes. Total. For the entire year! With over 16,000 residents, this gave Hibbing the lowest number of crimes per person, and gave residents an insanely low 1 in 1,639 chance of being the victim of a crime.
Yes, you read that correctly. To put that into perspective for you, the place with the second lowest chance of having crime victims had a ratio of 1:112, and that’s still very safe.
Hibbing’s total number of crimes was made up of just six property crimes and four violent crimes, which were the lowest and the second lowest number per person, respectively.
2. Lakeville
This Minneapolis suburb comes in high on our list, mostly for its impressively low number of violent crimes per person. In 2013, with a total of just 15 violent crimes and a population reaching near 60,000 people, it ranked fifth in this category.
It also had the 11th lowest number of property crimes per person, with its total of 724, all adding up to 739 crimes for the year, or the 10th lowest number of crimes in the state.
Interestingly, Lakeville’s total number of crimes is even lower than it was in last year’s report, where it came in at first place, but Hibbing’s crime rates were so very low, Lakeville got bumped to No. 2. But hey, No. 2 in one of the safest states in the nation ain’t half bad.
3. Lino Lakes (tie)
Well, Lino Lakes, we have good news, and we have even better news. The good news: You are one of the places in Minnesota to make our list two years in a row. The better news: You moved up from seventh place to third in just one year.
The reason for this is an overall drop in crime. In 2012, Lino Lakes had a total of 199 crimes for the year, which is great and all, but in 2013, it had just 187, giving it the second fewest crimes per person in the state.
These crimes were made up of 172 property crimes (also the second fewest per person) and 15 violent crimes (the 20th fewest per person.)
Overall, Lino Lakes residents had just a 1 in 112 chance of being the victim of a crime.
4. White Bear Township (tie)
White Bear Township, not to be confused with the much larger City of White Bear Lake, made our list for ranking well in…well, all of our categories.
With just over 11,000 residents and a total of 151 crimes for the year, this little Ramsey County community had the 11th lowest total number of crimes per person.
These were made up of 148 property crimes (the 13th fewest per person) and three violent crimes (the sixth fewest per person).
5. Farmington
Just like the others in our top 10, Farmington had zero murders in 2013, but the reason it ranked better than some was its impressively low number of property crimes.
In 2013, Farmington had the third lowest number of property crimes per person with just 192. This, plus its 21st lowest number of violent crimes (a total of 16) added up to give Farmington the third lowest number of crimes per person overall.
This drop from 217 total crimes to 208 is the reason Farmington went from the ninth safest place last year to the fifth this year. Happy 2015, indeed!
6. Chaska
This Carver County city had a total of just 296 crimes in 2013, giving it the ninth fewest crimes per person in the state. These were made up of 279 property crimes and 17 violent crimes.
That probably doesn’t mean a whole lot without some perspective. So, let’s take a look at a place with a similarly-sized population, Faribault. This city of just over 23,000 people had a total of 873 crimes that same year—783 property crimes and 90 violent crimes, one of which was a murder.
So if you’re ever in the odd position of having to decide between these two cities, now you know the facts.
7. Minnetonka
Yet another city that made our list in both 2014 and this year, and yet another city that bumped up its rankings. Last year, Minnetonka ranked 10th overall and had a total of 856 crimes for the year. Interestingly, though, this past year, when it had 876 total crimes, it moved up by three points.
This is mostly because in 2012, Minnetonka had a reported 20 violent crimes (five robberies and 15 assaults) and in 2013, it had just 13 total, giving it the fourth lowest number of violent crimes per person in the state. Keep it up, Minnetonka!
8. Maple Grove
This city of over 65,000 is easily the largest place we’ve looked at yet (until our next city, that is.) Just goes to show that more people doesn’t always necessarily mean more danger. Case in point: Maple Grove had the 11th lowest number of violent crimes per person in the state.
It also had the 21st lowest number of property crimes per person, which may not sound that impressive, but remember, we did look at 90 places overall.
All in all, Maple Grove had the 21st lowest number of crimes per person, with just 1,115 with its population of 65,318.
9. Plymouth
If you were surprised a city as large as Maple Grove made our top 10, just wait—with its population of nearly 74,000 people, Plymouth still managed to score well in all of our categories.
First of all, it had a total of 1,190 crimes in 2013, ranking it the 17th lowest per person in this category. It also ranked the 17th lowest for both its number of property crimes and violent crimes per person.
With such low numbers, Plymouth residents had just a 1 in 62 chance of being the victim of a crime. Granted, this is no 1 in 1,639, like in Hibbert, but it sure beats the 1 in 17 odds you’d have in Minneapolis.
10. Sartell
And, finally, another newbie to our list this year, Sartell. This St. Cloud suburb made our top 10, mostly for its incredibly low number of violent crimes—just four for the entire year. With its population of 16,258, this meant that Sartell had the third lowest number of violent crimes per person.
It also had the 29th lowest number of property crimes, which may not sound all that impressive, but compared to its larger neighbor St. Cloud, which ranked 80th in this category, Sartell is looking pretty safe.
All in all, it had the 26th lowest number of crimes per person in Minnesota.
Safest in the U.S.A.
Okay, these Minnesota places may not actually be the very safest in the country, but as the top 10 within the ninth safest state, they’re pretty high up on the list. So, congratulations to you, if you happen to live in one of these places.
And if you don’t, don’t worry—we’ll help you find a new place to live. Maybe some place like Hibbing.
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