Arizona’s 10 Safest Cities of 2023

The SafeWise Team is pleased to release the ninth annual Safest Cities report.

See if your city made the full list.

Arizona saw the nation's most significant decrease in violent crime and the second-most significant decrease in property crime year over year. Arizonans seem to have noticed, as most of our survey respondents reported lower levels of concern about most types of crime compared to the previous year's survey.

Arizona sees less violent crime than most of the US and less now than in previous years. On some level, residents seem tuned in to those lower crime rates with a 14% decrease in daily concern about violent crime. 

• Every day, 49% of Arizonans worry about a violent crime happening to them—that’s 1 percentage points lower than the national average.
• 9% of survey respondents reported having a personal experience with violent crime in the 12 months prior to the survey—6 percentage points below the national average.
• 34% of Arizona survey respondents use some form of personal protection (US 39%).
• Of those Arizona residents who use personal protection, most prefer pepper spray (41%) or concealed firearms (41%).
• 37% of Arizonans reported adding or increasing security or safety measures during the 12 months prior to the survey, which is higher than the national average of 35%.

• Gun violence is the safety issue Arizonans are least worried about on a daily basis—44% are highly concerned about it every day, versus 47% nationwide.
• 10% reported having a personal experience with gun violence in the past year, which represents a 38% increase year over year. 
• Arizona saw 13 mass shootings in 2022—7 more than the previous year.
• Of the Arizonans who use some form of protection, 41% use a firearm for personal protection and 29% use one for property protection.

Arizonans worried less about property crime during the 2023 reporting year than in the previous year—50% were concerned about property crime on a daily basis, matches the national sentiment and represents a 7% decrease year over year.

With that said, reports of personal experiences with property crime increased by 38% year over year. 

• 20% of survey respondents reported having a personal experience with property crime in the 12 months prior to the survey—that’s 7 percentage points below the national average.

• 27% of Arizonans fell prey to porch pirates in our latest survey, which is 7 percentage points lower than the national average.

• Of the Arizonans who use some form of property protection, most prefer guard dogs (36%) or security cameras (32%). 

• 36% of survey respondents indicated they use no package theft prevention strategy. Otherwise, most Arizona residents prefer to use a doorbell camera (27%) or have the package left in a safe spot (27%). 

Arizona's violent crime rate of 2.6 incidents per 1,000 people represents a 46% decrease year over year. Similarly, The Grand Canyon State's property crime rate of 14.4 represents a 35% decrease. Both crime rates fall below the national averages (4.0 and 19.3, respectively).

Arizonan’s level of daily concern about safety stayed at 49%, which is lower than the national average of 50% but only the twenty-third lowest level of concern nationwide. 

Regionally, Arizona has the third-lowest violent crime rate after Wyoming (2.4) and Idaho (2.5), but the state does better when it comes to property crime. Property crime incidents dipped from 22.3 per 1,000 people to 14.4. That drop gives Arizona the second-lowest property crime rate in the Mountain region behind Idaho (10.5).

On a national scale, Arizona has the eleventh-lowest violent crime rate and the ninth-lowest property crime rate.

Arizona respondents to our State of Safety survey told us they’ve had less personal experience with crime than most of the country. Across the board, fewer Arizonans reported falling prey to violent crime, property crime, gun violence, and package theft than the average American. With that said, Arizonans reported increasing experiences with all levels of crime except violent crime.

For our 2023 State of Safety Survey, we asked participants about their natural disaster concerns, preparations, and experiences. Most Arizonans worried about extreme heat or cold (60%), drought (56%), and fire or smoke (55%). 

Compared to the average American, Arizona residents were less likely to have an emergency kit (39% AZ, 44% US) or family emergency plan (30% AZ, 40% US) but more likely to have modified their property against disasters (11% AZ, 8% US) or to have considered relocating (13% AZ, 10% US). 

About 7% of Arizonans reported having to evacuate due to a natural disaster in the 12 months prior to the survey, which is lower than the national average of 11%. 

We asked Arizona residents which crimes they worry may happen to them. See if Arizonans are concerned about the same crime issues as the rest of the country.

View the complete 2023 State of Safety report.

For the purposes of this report, the terms “dangerous” and “safest” refer explicitly to crime rates as calculated from FBI crime data—no other characterization of any community is implied or intended.

• 21 cities qualified to be ranked in Arizona this year.

• All of the safest cities have lower crime rates than the state, the Mountain region, and the US.

• 90% of the cities made our list for the second year in a row, with Chandler making its debut in the top 10 this year.

• 3 of Arizona's safest cities reported fewer than 50 total violent crimes: San Luis (31), Oro Valley (27), and Sahuarita (49). 

• Only Chandler saw a decrease in both its violent crime rate and its property crime rate.
• 7% of Arizona's murders occurred in its 10 safest cities during the 2023 reporting year.
• Some of the nation's most populous safest cities are located in Arizona: Chandler, Gilbert, and Surprise. 
• Gilbert is also featured on our list of the 50 Safest Cities to Raise a Family.

We calculated crime rates for every city in the state that met our population threshold, based on the state’s median population as calculated using FBI data. To request a report of the remaining cities in your state email info@safewise.com with the subject line: Safest Cities Full Report.

NOTE: If your city is missing from our full report, it means that it was below the population threshold or didn’t submit a complete crime report to the FBI in 2021.

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• The State of Safety in America in 2022

FBI Crime Data Explorer, "Documents & Downloads." Accessed February 6, 2023.

• 2021 and 2020 Crime in the United States Annual Reports
  • Offenses Known to Law Enforcement
• 2021 NIBRS Estimation Tables

FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, "Offenses Known to Law Enforcement [2019]." Accessed February 6, 2023.

Bureau of Justice Statistics, "National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)." Accessed February 6, 2023.

US Census Bureau, "2021: ACS 5-Year Estimates Subject Tables." Accessed February 6, 2023.

US Census Bureau, "2021: ACS 5-Year Estimates Detailed Tables." Accessed February 6, 2023.

SafeWise, "2022 State of Safety survey." Accessed February 6, 2023.

Gun Violence Archive, "General Methodology." Accessed February 6, 2023.

Gun Violence Archive, "Past Summary Ledgers." Accessed January 3, 2023.

Gun Violence Archive, "Congress."

• 2022 totals: Accessed January 3, 2023.
• 2021 and 2020 totals: Accessed December 19, 2022.