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When it comes to finding a new home, we know there are lots of things to consider—after all, it’s kind of what we do here at Movoto Real Estate. That’s why we’re a big fan of rankings. Today we’re focusing on safety; specifically in the great state of Montana.
Here are the 10 safest places in the Treasure State:
1. City of Dillon
2. City of Miles City (tie)
2. City of Sidney (tie)
4. City of Columbia Falls
5. City of Glasgow
6. City of Livingston
7. City of Deer Lodge
8. City of Bozeman (tie)
8. City of Laurel (tie)
10. Town of Glendive
We’ll get back to the details of these 10 places later. Let’s take a look at how we came up with this ranking in the first place.
Our Methodology
Like any of our other Big Deal Lists, we created this one with pure facts, not opinions. We used the latest FBI Uniform Crime Report, with data from 2013, and looked at all of Montana’s places with populations of 3,000 people or more in terms of the following:
- Murders
- Rapes
- Robberies
- Assaults
- Burglaries
- Thefts
- Vehicle Thefts
We then further divided these crimes into four categories:
- Murders
- Violent Crimes
- Property Crimes
- Total Crimes
We omitted any places that didn’t report data in 2013 then calculated the number of crimes per person in each, to better compare cities and towns of all sizes. With that, we ranked each of these 21 places with scores from one to 21 in each category, where the lower scores went to the safer places.
Next, we weighted murders, violent crimes, and property crimes to account for 30 percent of the overall score, while the total number of crimes made up just 10 percent.
Lastly, we averaged all of these weighted scores into one overall Big Deal Score, where the lowest score went to our safest place, Dillon.
In the next section, we’ll take a look at why each of these places was safer than the rest, and then we’ve got a complete table of all of the places we looked at.
1. Dillon
Dillon had the fewest crimes per person in the state, with a total of just 36 for the entire year. Those 36 crimes were made up of 30 property crimes (that’s 27 thefts and three vehicle thefts) and six violent crimes (two rapes and four aggravated assaults). With its population of 4,223, this meant Dillon had the second fewest violent crimes per person.
2. Miles City
For its 166 total crimes, Miles City earned the fifth place ranking in that category; for its 151 property crimes, it placed fifth again; and for its 15 violent crimes, it placed fifth a third time.
The reason it came in second overall and not fifth, though, was its lack of murders in 2013. With no murders, it tied for first in this category, along with a majority of the other places on our list, bumping it up in our rankings.
2. Sidney
Tied with Miles City is Sidney. This Richland County city ranked particularly well for its low number of property crimes, and therefore total crimes. Specifically, Sidney had the second fewest property crimes with a total of just 60 for its population of 6,191.
This, plus its 14 violent crimes in 2013 gave Sidney a total of just 74 crimes, or the second fewest total crimes per person.
4. Columbia Falls
You’d be hard pressed to find anyone that thinks Columbia Falls is anything resembling dangerous with so few violent crimes. In 2013, Columbia Falls had the fewest violent crimes per person in the state, with just five for its population of 4,721.
These two rapes and three aggravated assaults, plus Columbia Falls’ 134 property crimes gave the city a total of 139 crimes, or the ninth fewest per person.
5. Glasgow
With its population of 3,342, Glasgow saw only 67 total crimes, giving it the sixth fewest per person for the year. It also had the sixth fewest violent crimes, with a total of six for the year, and the sixth fewest property crimes per person, with 61.
Like the rest on our list, none of these crimes included murder, in 2013 or the year before.
6. Livingston
Livingston had a total of just 109 crimes in 2013. With its population of 7,062 people, that meant Livingston had the third fewest number of crimes per person, and residents had just a 1 in 65 chance of being the victim of a crime.
This low total number of crimes was largely due to it having the third fewest property crimes per person in the state, just 89 for the entire year.
In addition to these property crimes, there were 20 violent crimes, 17 of which were assaults, and three of which were rapes.
7. Deer Lodge
In 2013, Deer Lodge had some of the fewest violent crimes per person in the state—the third fewest, to be precise.
To be even more precise, these mere five violent crimes for its population of 3,122 consisted of one rape, one robbery, and three aggravated assaults.
Additionally, Deer Lodge saw 92 property crimes, giving the city a total of 97 crimes for the entire year, and ranking it 10th in both categories.
8. Bozeman
Residents know how safe this city feels—but did you know that out of more than 20 places, Bozeman actually had the fourth fewest violent crimes per person?
In 2013, Bozeman had a total of just 67 violent crimes for its population of nearly 40,000: six robberies, 24 rapes, and 37 assaults (there were no murders).
This, plus Bozeman’s 1,200 property crimes, gave it a total of 1,267 crimes for the year, which was the 11th fewest per person.
8. Laurel
In the most recent Uniform Crime Report, Laurel had a total of 197 crimes for its population of nearly 7,000 people, giving it the eighth fewest per person overall.
These 197 crimes consisted of 182 property crimes (the eighth fewest per person) and 15 violent crimes (also the eighth fewest per person).
To put that into perspective, let’s take a quick look at Whitefish, a place with a similarly sized population (6,496). In 2013, this city had a total of 247 crimes including 228 property crimes and 19 violent crimes, three of which were murders.
10. Glendive
Glendive made our top 10 mostly due to its lack of violent crime, a total of just 11 in 2013. These were made up of two rapes, one robbery, and eight aggravated assaults.
With its population of 5,264, this gave Glendive the seventh fewest violent crimes per person.
Glendive didn’t rank quite so well for its property crimes. It had a total of 164 in 2013, ranking 12th out of 21 in this category, but compare that, to say, Polson which had 309 property crimes for its mere 4,614 residents, and Glendive is obviously the safer bet.
Finding Your Listing
Now that you’ve seen our latest list of the safest places in Montana, you may be interested in some of our other crime analyses, such as the Safest States In America. You might also be looking to move to one of these safe spots in the Treasure State. If that’s the case, visit Movoto.com and we’ll get you started.
