These Are The 10 Safest Places In Nevada

Here at the Movoto Real Estate Blog, we know just how important your family’s safety is when looking for a new place to call home. So we’re going state by state, city to city, seeking out the safest places all over the country. We’ve stopped by states like Texas, Oklahoma, and Georgia, and today we’re heading west to the Silver State, Nevada. Which of Nevada’s cities was the very safest? That top honor goes to Boulder City. Of course, there were several silver medalists in our ranking as well. Here are the 10 safest places in the state: 1. City of Boulder City
2. City of Mesquite
3. City of Carlin
4. City of Henderson
5. City of Winnemucca
6. City of Yerington
7. City of Sparks
8. City of Fallon
9. City of Lovelock
10. City of West Wendover
To find out how we came up with this ranking and why each of these 10 places are so safe, keep reading. At the end of the post, we’ll include a table of all of the places in the state we looked at for anyone who’s curious where their hometown ranked.

Our Methodology

We started by gathering a list of all of the places in Nevada that reported crime data to the FBI in 2012. Since Nevada is sparsely populated in the first place, and not a whole lot of cities reported data to the FBI, this left us with a total of 14 places. From there, we used the 2012 FBI Uniform Crime Report to research statistics on the following criteria:

• Murder
• Rape
• Robbery
• Assault
• Burglary
• Theft
• Vehicle theft

After that, we divided these crimes into four different categories:

• Murders
• Violent crimes
• Property crimes
• Total crimes

In order to equally compare all of the places on our list, no matter their population size, we calculated the crime rates per 100,000 residents. We then ranked each place from one to 14 in each of our categories, using these crime rates. The lower the number, the safer the place. We weighted the results so that murders, violent crimes, and property crimes each made up 30 percent of the overall score, while total crimes made up 10 percent. Finally, we averaged these results into an overall Big Deal Score for each spot, where the lowest score went to our safest place. To see the complete rankings of all 14 places we looked at in this analysis, head to the bottom of the post. Otherwise, we’ll take a closer look at each of our top 10, starting with our winner and all around safest place, Boulder City.

1. Boulder City

This Clark County city came in as the safest place in the state, mostly for its impressively low rate of violent crime. In 2012, Boulder City had just 79 violent crimes per 100,000 people, which included no murders, no rapes, 20 robberies, and 59 assaults. Additionally, Boulder City had 1,420 property crimes per 100,000 people, including 46 vehicle thefts, 762 thefts, and 612 burglaries. In total, there were 1,499 crimes per 100,000 people for the year; the lowest number of total crimes in all of the places we looked at.

2. Mesquite

Like several others in our top 10, this city of just under 16,000 residents had no murders per 100,000 people in 2012, but where it really stood out was for its low total number of violent crimes: just 109 per 100,000. As mentioned, none of these were murders, but there were 26 rapes, 19 robberies, and 64 assaults per 100,000 people. To put this into perspective, take a look at one of the more violent places in the state, Elko, where that same year there were 27 murders, 138 rapes, 37 robberies, and 426 assaults per 100,000 people. In addition to the 109 violent crimes, Mesquite had a reported 1,933 property crimes per 100,000 people; the fourth lowest in this category.

3. Carlin

While this city may not have had the lowest number of violent crimes in 2012 (with 288 per 100,000), none of these included murder, and it still managed to have one of the lowest total number of crimes overall, due to its lack of property crime. In fact, with just 1,234 property crimes per 100,000 people, Carlin had the lowest number of property crimes out of all of the places we looked at. These crimes included 288 vehicle thefts, 658 thefts, and 288 burglaries for every 100,000 people.

4. Henderson

Henderson’s motto is “A Place to Call Home,” and after looking at these low numbers of crime, it certainly seems like a good one. In 2012, Henderson had a total of just 2,178 crimes per 100,000 people. This included 2,009 property crimes and 169 violent crimes per 100,000 people, two of which were murders Unfortunately, the two murders weighed against Henderson in our ranking, otherwise it may have been higher up in the list. Still, though, with just 2,178 crimes per 100,000 people residents in this city had just a 1 in 46 chance of being the victim of a crime. Compare that to, say, Elko or Las Vegas and you’ll see how safe Henderson really is.

5. Winnemucca

This Humboldt County city is not only the safest in the area, but with just 1,884 crimes per 100,000 people, in the entire state. Of those 1,884 crimes, per 100,000 people, 1,753 were property crimes and 131 were violent crimes. These are both the third lowest in their respective categories. Why did Winnemucca not place higher in our ranking? Well, unfortunately, among those 131 violent crimes there were 13 murders per 100,000 people, which ranked it 13th in this category and bumped it down to fifth overall on our list.

6. Yerington

In 2012, this small city of just over 3,000 residents had just 3,506 crimes per 100,000 people. These included 3,116 property crimes and 390 violent crimes, none of which were murders. To break that down further for you, the property crimes consisted of 32 vehicle thefts, 2,175 thefts, and 909 burglaries. The violent crimes included no murders, 65 rapes, no robberies, and 325 assaults per 100,000 people.

7. Sparks

Just east of Reno, Sparks is often referred to as half of a twin city—and in looking at these crime rates, undoubtedly the safer half. That’s because with just 254 violent crimes per 100,000 people, Sparks came in as the fifth least violent out of all of the places we looked at. It also ranked well for its total number of crime—just 3,024—unfortunately, points were docked for its eighth place ranking in the category of murder. For every 100,000 people, there was one murder in 2012. Of course, compared to many much bigger and more dangerous cities, Sparks is still looking pretty good.

8. Fallon

This mostly agricultural city of just under 9,000 residents had a serious lack of crime in 2012—especially when it came to violence. With just 267 violent crimes per 100,000 people, it ranked sixth in this category, and better still, none of these violent crimes included murders. What they did include, though, were 12 rapes, 70 robberies, and 185 assaults per 100,000 people. This may sound like a lot all spelled out like that, but consider the fact that Las Vegas had five murders, 40 rapes, 258 robberies, and 480 assaults per 100,000 people, and you’ll see just how safe Fallon is.

9. Lovelock

With a name that includes the word “love,” it almost seems like a requirement that your city should be safe, and fortunately, this one is. For every 100,000 people in 2012, there were 4,039 crimes. These were made up of 2,361 property crimes and 1,678 violent crimes. More specifically, these property crimes included 105 vehicle thefts, 1,417 thefts, and 839 burglaries. The violent crimes included no murders, no rapes, 52 robberies, and 1,626 assaults per 100,000 people. This may seem a little heavy on the assaults, but it at least had no murders or rapes in 2012, which is better than most places in the state.

10. West Wendover

The final spot on our list goes to West Wendover, mostly for its low number of violent crimes. There were 441 violent crimes per 100,000 people in this city in 2012, which included no murders, 132 rapes, 22 robberies, and 287 assaults per 100,000 people. Additionally, there were 3,819 property crimes per 100,000 people, giving the city a total of 4,260 crimes per 100,000 people for the year.

The Silver Lining Of Safety

If you live in Nevada, there may, of course, be times when you wish it wasn’t so hot. But the silver lining here is that this state is safe—particularly in these 10 places. And if you happen to be looking at moving to one of these safe places in the Silver State, feel free to get in touch. After all, in addition to creating lists like this one (not to mention some pretty awesome maps), we sell houses. And Boulder City is just lovely (and perfectly safe!) this time of year.