Embed Gallery
There’s no question about it—when it comes to natural beauty, Alaska is at the top of the list in the United States. But here at the Movoto Real Estate Blog, we know that you can’t exactly base where you’re going to live around what looks the best—well, not entirely, anyway.
After all, no matter how cool a place is, you’re probably not going to want to live there if it’s not safe.
Luckily in Alaska, there are many places where you won’t have to make such a choice. Here are the 10 safest places in Alaska for 2013, starting with the safest, Wrangell:
1. City of Wrangell
2. City of Sitka
3. City of Unalaska
4. City of Cordova
5. CDP of Petersburg (tie)
5. CDP of Haines (tie)
7. Borough of Palmer
8. North Slope Borough
9. City of Valdez
10. City of Nome
Keep reading to find out how we came up with this order in the first place.
Our Methodology
To create this list, we went straight to the experts at the FBI and used the most recent FBI Uniform Crime Report (2013) to look at all of the largest places in Alaska in terms of the following criteria:
- Murders
- Rapes
- Robberies
- Assaults
- Burglaries
- Thefts
- Vehicle Thefts
Then we divided these crimes into four categories:
- Murders
- Violent Crimes
- Property Crimes
- Total Crimes
Once we omitted any places that didn’t report data in 2013, we were left with a total of 24 places. To better compare both large and small places in the state, we calculated the number of crimes per person, then ranked each of these places with a score from one to 24 in each category. The lower the score, the safer the place.
We then weighted murders, violent crimes, and property crimes a bit more heavily, so that they made up 30 percent of our overall score, where the total number of crimes made up just 10 percent.
Finally, we averaged all of these weighted scores into one overall Big Deal Score, where the lowest went to our safest places.
If you’re interested in seeing more than these top 10, feel free to explore the table at the end of this article for a complete look at all of the places in our analysis.
1. Wrangell
Wrangell came in at the top of our list for having the lowest total number of crimes per person in the state. In 2013, it had a total of just 29 crimes, including 23 property crimes and six violent crimes.
With its population of 2,414, this gave it the fewest total crimes, the fewest property crimes, and the fourth fewest violent crimes per person.
Like the rest in our top 10—and, in fact, top 22—Wrangell had no murders in 2013. The only violent crimes reported were six aggravated assaults.
2. Sitka
Wrangell may have wowed us with its low number of property crimes per person, but when it comes to a lack of violence, you really can’t beat Sitka; at least not in Alaska.
In 2013, Sitka had a total of just seven violent crimes for the year. Yes, this is one more than Wrangell had that same year, but remember, we’re talking violent crimes per person.
With a population about four times larger than Wrangell’s, Sitka had the fewest violent crimes per person in the state.
This, plus its seventh fewest violent crimes gave Sitka the fifth fewest crimes per person overall.
3. Unalaska
There’s not much that’s unsafe about this Alaskan city—especially when it comes to property crime.
Unalaska had just 74 property crimes in 2013: 66 thefts, five motor vehicle thefts, and three burglaries. With its population of 4,340, that gave Unalaska the fifth fewest property crimes per person.
Additionally the city had two rapes and 13 aggravated assaults for a total of 15 violent crimes, or the seventh fewest per person, giving Unalaska the third fewest crimes per person in the state overall.
4. Cordova
With the second fewest crimes per person in the state, this place is practically paradise.
The reason Cordova had so few total crimes in 2013 was mostly due to its lack of property crimes compared to other places; it had the fourth fewest per person. This, plus its ninth fewest violent crimes added up and averaged out to its impressively low total number of crimes per person.
5. Petersburg
The first of our two fifth place communities is Petersburg. This little place on Mitkof Island ranked among the best for its lack of violent crime. It had a total of just six violent crimes in 2013 (all of which were aggravated assaults), which gave it the second fewest per person in the state.
For its property crime, Petersburg was about average—it had a total of 88 that year, ranking it at No. 12 out of 24 in this category—but this, plus its lack of any murders, averaged out to give it the 10th fewest total crimes per person.
5. Haines
Like Petersburg, Haines made the cut mostly due to its lack of violent crime; it had the fifth fewest per person in 2013.
Even though it had more violent crimes per person than Petersburg, it still managed to tie for the coveted fifth place spot for having fewer property crimes per person. In 2013, Haines had a total of 62 property crimes. With its population of just over 2,500, this gave the community the 10th fewest property crimes and the seventh fewest crimes per person overall.
7. Palmer
Palmer ranked well for its ninth fewest total crimes per person. These were made up of 163 property crimes and just 20 violent crimes, which with its population of just over 64,000 people, gave Palmer the 11th and 6th fewest crimes per person in each category, respectively.
To be a bit more specific, these property crimes included five motor vehicle thefts, 145 thefts, and 13 burglaries, and the violent crimes were made up of seven rapes and 13 assaults. That means no murders and no robberies were reported.
8. North Slope Borough
With this community, we have some good news and some bad news. The good news is, North Slope Borough had the second fewest property crimes per person in our study. It had a total of just 121 for its population of 9,674.
The bad news, though, is that it had just the 17th fewest, or the seventh most, violent crimes per person. It had a total of 79 in 2013, including nine rapes, one robbery, and 69 aggravated assaults. At least none of these were murders.
9. Valdez
Valdez had a total of just 16 violent crimes and 97 property crimes in 2013, ranking it 10th and ninth in these respective categories.
More specifically, all of these violent crimes were made up of aggravated assaults and the property crimes included 11 burglaries, 82 thefts, and four vehicle thefts, adding up to equal the eighth fewest total crimes per person in Alaska.
10. Nome
Nome had an impressively low number of property crimes—the third lowest per person in the state, as a matter of fact. These included six vehicle thefts, 40 thefts, and 10 burglaries.
Unfortunately, it didn’t do so well in the category of violent crimes. It had a total of 34 in 2013, including four rapes, one robbery, and 29 assaults (luckily no murders).
With its population of just 3,805, this gave Nome the fourth most violent crimes per person that year, which is why it didn’t place higher in our rankings.
The Last Frontier
If you’ve been contemplating a move to Alaska, it seems the Last Frontier in this decision might be finding out if it’s actually safe.
After all, we already know it’s beautiful, it’s exciting, and yes, it has some very unique cuisine, and now, thanks to this list, we hope you’re convinced of its safety. We’ll even help you find your new home—hopefully in someplace near the top of the list below.
