Small towns in the Midwest have always had a reputation for being some of the most wholesome, down to earth, and good ol’ fashioned places in the United States. They’re the white picket fences, the waving at your neighbor while mowing the lawn, and more than anything, that feeling of comfort and safety.
Whether or not this safety is statistically true, though, is another question. But of course here at the
Movoto Real Estate Blog we leave no question unanswered and no stone unturned. So today we’re taking a closer look at one Midwestern state in particular, Kansas, to find out which of its small towns are the safest.
Here they are, starting with our winner and safest small town, Bel Aire.
1. City of Bel Aire
2.
City of Lansing
3.
City of Spring Hill (tie)
3.
City of Valley Center (tie)
5.
City of Gardner (tie)
5.
City of Andover (tie)
7. City of Mulvane
8.
City of Eudora
9. City of Colby
10. City of Ulysses
Okay, we know technically these places are categorized as cities, but with populations of under 20,000, they certainly have that small town feel. To find out more about the method behind this list, just keep reading. Then we’ll take a closer look at each of our top 10 safest places.
Our Methodology
In order to come up with this list, we started by gathering up all of the places in Kansas with populations between 5,000 and 20,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census. We then used the
2012 FBI Uniform Crime Report to find criteria in the following safety-related criteria:
- Murder
- Rape
- Robbery
- Assault
- Burglary
- Theft
- Vehicle theft
We divided these crimes into four different categories:
- Murders
- Violent crimes
- Property crimes
- Total crimes
Once we eliminated any places that didn’t report their crime data that year, we were left with a total of 35 places to look at. We then calculated each place’s number of crimes per capita (or per person) in order to better compare cities with both larger and smaller populations.
We ranked each place with a score from one to 35 in all each of our categories—murders, violent crimes, property crimes, and total crimes—all per capita—with one being the best possible score.
Next, we weighted murders, violent crimes, and property crimes so that they each comprised 30 percent of the overall score, whereas the total number of crimes comprised 10 percent.
Finally, we averaged all of these weighted scores into one overall
Big Deal Score, where the place with the lowest score was our safest place, the city (a very very little city…) of Bel Aire.
To see more than just these top 10, you can head down to the bottom of the post for a look at how all 35 places ranked. Otherwise, let’s take a closer look at our winners.
1. Bel Aire
This
Wichita suburb came in at the top of our list for a number of reasons—in this case, mostly ones and twos. What we mean is, Bel Aire came in in first and second place across the board.
It ranked first for having the lowest number of violent crimes, first for the lowest number of total crimes, first for the lowest number of murders (as in zero; it tied with several others in this category), and second for its number of property crimes per capita.
2. Lansing
This small town may be the site of the famous Lansing Correctional Facility, but that certainly doesn’t mean this place is dangerous; in fact, quite the opposite. Not only did Lansing have zero murders in 2012, it also had one of the lowest numbers of violent crimes per person overall (eighth in this category.)
It really shined in the category of property crimes, with the lowest number per person in the state. Because of this low number, Lansing had the second lowest number of total crimes out of the places we looked at, and because of this, residents had just a 1 in 129 chance of being the victim of a crime.
3. Spring Hill
With barely over 5,500 residents, Spring Hill really has that small town charm thing going for it, from its tight knit community to its low numbers in crime. In 2012, for example, Spring Hill had the fourth lowest number of crimes per person out of anywhere we looked at.
This was mostly due to its low number of property crimes—also the fourth lowest in the state—and its low number of violent crimes—the seventh lowest.
Spring Hill, like the rest of our top 10, had zero murders in 2012, tying for first in this category.
3. Valley Center
The second of our No. 3s is Valley Center. This city of just under 7,000 residents tied with Spring Hill for ranking pretty well across the board, but in particular for its low number of violent crimes.
In 2012, Valley Center had the third lowest number of violent crimes per person—none of which were murders or robberies. It also had a low number of property crimes per person, most of which were theft.
Overall, Valley Center had the seventh fewest crimes per capita on our list.
5. Gardner
With just under 20,000 residents, Gardner is easily the largest place in our top 10—but clearly, a larger population doesn’t necessarily mean more danger.
Gardner ranked well in our analysis across the board, from its sixth lowest number of violent crimes to its sixth lowest number of property crimes per capita. All told, it had the sixth lowest number of total crimes for the year, giving residents just a 1 in 52 chance of being the victim of a crime.
5. Andover
This small city of just over 11,000 residents may be another suburb of Wichita, but this is still certainly one of the safest spots around.
Case in point: out of all of the places we looked at, Andover had the second lowest number of violent crimes per person—none of which were murders. It also had the ninth lowest number of property crimes per person (the bulk of which were thefts, followed by burglaries), giving it the ninth lowest number of crimes overall.
7. Mulvane
Just like our previous place, Mulvane ranked well in our analysis for its particularly low number of violent crimes—the fourth lowest per capita. Of these, there were no murders or rapes, meaning there were only assaults and robberies (the majority of the violent crimes were assaults).
Mulvane also had the eighth lowest number of property crimes per capita (nearly all of which were thefts), giving it the eighth lowest number of crimes overall for the year.
8. Eudora
Out of the 35 locales we looked at, Eudora residents had the third lowest chance of being the victim of a crime—just 1 in 65. This was mostly because of its impressively number of property crimes per capita—the third lowest in the state.
To get into a bit more detail, Eudora had just 0.01264 property crimes per person in 2012. Now, this probably doesn’t mean much out of context, so to put it into context, just take a look at the small town where there were the most property crimes,
Chanute. Here, there were 0.05487 per person.
The numbers may be small, but they certainly do add up.
9. Colby
Just like the others in our top 10, Colby tied in first for its complete lack of murders in 2012. Where it really stood out, though, was in its low number of violent crimes overall—the 10th lowest per capita.
Most of these were assaults, followed by rapes, and then robberies.
Because of Colby’s low number of violent crimes for the year (not to mention its 11th place rank for property crimes), Colby had the 10th lowest number of crimes per capita overall.
10. Ulysses
The final spot on our list goes to the oh so awesomely-named town, Ulysses. This little
Kansas city had one of the lowest numbers of total crimes per capita out of anywhere we looked at.
Admittedly, this didn’t have a whole lot to do with its violent crimes (it, unfortunately, ranked 21st for its number of violent crimes per capita), but more for its having the fifth lowest number of property crimes per capita.
The good news is, none of those violent crimes included murder, and with such a low number of crimes overall, residents are still less likely to be crime victims than in the majority of places on our list.
There’s No Place Like Home
In these 10 small towns in Kansas, there really is no place like home—especially when it comes to safety.
If you’re looking for your own little
safe haven, whether it’s a small town in Kansas or someplace else entirely, we can help you there. Not only do we put together lists of the best places to live, we’ll actually help you
find one to call your own.
