Alabama’s 20 Safest Cities of 2020

The SafeWise Team is pleased to release the sixth annual Safest Cities report. Here are the 20 Safest Cities in Alabama for 2020. See if your city made the list.

Folks in Alabama are more worried about their safety on a daily basis than the rest of the nation. But if you live in one of the state’s safest cities, you might have less cause for concern.

See if your hometown is one of Alabama’s safest cities of 2020.

Almost 60% of respondents to our 2020 State of Safety survey said they had very high or high concern for their safety every day—compared to just 46% that claimed the same level of concern nationwide.

Despite that concern, only 25% of Alabama residents reported owning a home security system, and 27% don’t use any kind of protection for their home or property.

With violent and property crime rates that are higher than national averages, the levels of concern in Alabama make sense. But are Alabamans’ crime-related fears aligned with the actual crime rates in their state?

View the complete 2020 State of Safety report.

Violent Crime in Alabama: Fear vs. Reality

Being robbed on the street was the top violent crime concern in Alabama, with 45% of respondents naming it their biggest worry—but robbery wasn’t the most common violent crime among the safest cities.

• Robbery accounted for 11% of the total violent crimes reported in Alabama’s safest cities, and 16% of all violent crime statewide.
• Assault by a stranger is the crime respondents named most likely to actually happen.
• Aggravated assault was the most common violent crime among the safest cities, with 638 total incidents making up 79% of all reported violent crimes.
• Across the state, aggravated assault accounted for 75% of all violent crimes reported.

Property Crime in Alabama: Fear vs. Reality

Someone breaking in when you’re not home was the biggest property crime worry in Alabama, with 72% of respondents naming it their top concern—that’s 10 percentage points higher than the national average.

• Among Alabama’s safest cities, there were 818 total burglaries reported—13% of the total property crimes reported. Statewide, burglaries made up 21% of all property crime.
• Having property stolen is the crime considered most likely to happen, according to State of Safety survey participants.
• The most common property crime among the safest cities was larceny theft, claiming around 81% of all incidents reported.
• Overall, there were 28.2 property crime incidents per 1,000 people in Alabama. That’s almost seven percentage points above the national rate of 22.
• 34% of respondents reported experiencing a property crime in the past 12 months, compared to just 26% across the country.

A Closer Look at Alabama’s Safest Cities of 2020

• Two brand new cities joined the ranks this year, including Rainbow City, which claimed the number one spot. The other newcomer is Mountain Brook at number three. These cities didn’t report crime statistics to the FBI last year.
• Six cities broke into the top 20 this year: Southside, Daleville, Moody, Brent, Fairhope, Auburn, and Spanish Fort.
• 11 cities (55%) improved in rank this year.
• Five cities (25%) fell in rank this year
• Two cities stayed in the same spots for the second consecutive year—Helena at number five and Pleasant Grove at number eight.
• There were only nine total murders reported among the safest cities, and 95% reported fewer than 100 total violent crimes.
• All the safest cities are below Alabama’s violent crime rate of 5.2 per 1,000, but five are above the national rate of 3.7.
• 95% of the safest cities are below the state property crime rate of 28.2 per 1,000, but four are above the national rate of 22.0.

The 20 Safest Cities in Alabama

How We Determined the Safest Cities

Learn how we identified the safest cities on our methodology page.

How to Make a Safe Home Anywhere

Whether your city made our list or not, we recommend adding extra security to your home with monitored security services provided by the nation’s leading home security providers.

To learn more about your home security options, check out SafeWise’s picks for Best Home Security Systems

Didn’t Find Your City in the Top 20?

We calculated crime rates for every city in the state that met our population threshold, which is based on the median population of the state. See how the remaining cities ranked in the list below.

NOTE: If you don’t see your city on the list, it means that it was below the population threshold or didn’t submit a complete crime report to the FBI in 2018.

Sources

FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, “2018 Crime in the United States”
SafeWise, “2020 State of Safety”
US Census Bureau, “American Fact Finder”