Georgia’s 50 Safest Cities of 2021

1. Milton
2. Tyrone
3. Braselton
4. Hampton
5. Woodstock
6. Grovetown
7. Glennville
8. Alpharetta
9. Acworth
10. Kennesaw

See if your city made the full list.

Georgians show a high level of concern for their safety on all issues we asked about. Of those who responded to our survey, 56% said they were concerned for their safety on a daily basis. Georgia is the second most-concerned state in the nation when it comes to package theft and police violence.

The level of concern in Georgia has risen almost 10% in the last year. But violent crime in The Peach State remains below the national and regional average. And property crime has dropped steadily since 2019.

Overall, Georgians rank among the most concerned in the country. The Peach State is 12th in the nation for daily concern, 6th for violent crime concern, 2nd for package theft and police violence, and 5th for its concern over COVID-19 (just below its neighbor, Florida).

Georgians worry about their safety a lot (and even more in 2021 than in 2020). Of those who responded to our survey, we saw an increase in personal experience with violent crime and gun violence. But 13% fewer Georgians we talked to experienced property crime.

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

View the complete 2021 State of Safety report.

In Georgia, 54% of residents think crime is increasing and 15% think crime is decreasing. In reality, Georgia saw a slight increase in violent crime and a steady decrease in property crime. 

Aggravated assault was the most common violent crime in Georgia, making up 67.2% of violent crime in the safest cities and 68.1% of violent crime in the state.

• There were only 7 murders in the safest cities. 
• All 20 of the safest cities in Georgia had violent crime rates under the national and state average.
• Eatonton saw the biggest improvement in its violent crime rates, dropping from 5.1 last year to 2.3 this year.
• 8 of the safest cities saw fewer than 20 violent crimes in the last year, with Tyrone and Glennville tying for the least amount. 
• Mass shooting incidents and officer-involved incidents dropped from 2019 to 2020. But 42% of Georgians say gun violence is a top concern. 
• 64% of Georgians worry about police violence daily and 50% say they have confidence in law enforcement.
• In Georgia, 39% of respondents said they use some form of personal protection like pepper spray or stun gunspersonal protection. That’s 5% more than the rest of the nation. 
• 54% of Georgians said their personal safety was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although property crime is still higher in Georgia than the national average, it has been dropping steadily in the state and region since 2019. But it’s still a big worry for many who call Georgia home. In our survey, 51% said property crime is a top concern.

• In 2019, the property crime rate in Georgia was 28.6 per 1,000 people. Since then, it’s dropped 4.8 incidents to 23.8 per 1,000 people. 
• Property crime across the South-Atlantic region and country has dropped steadily since 2019 as well.  
• Larceny-theft is the most common property crime in The Peach State, making up (74.9%) of the property crime statewide.
• Larceny-theft was also more common in the safest cities, making up 83.2% of the property crimes among those 20 towns.
• 22% of Georgians experienced package theft in the last year.
• 75% of Georgians use some form of property protection, an increase from the 67% we saw last year. According to our survey, 37% use security cameras and 35% use security systems.
• 39% of those in Georgia said the pandemic has affected the safety of their property.

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.

• Centerville saw the most improvement from last year, jumping from number 82 to number 19 this year. The city’s property crime rate dropped from 43.9 to 24.4 in the last year.
• We had two newcomers on our list: Barnesville and Calhoun. Both had violent crime rates below the national average.  
• While Braselton was the safest city in Georgia last year, it's the only city to see a drop in ranking this year, landing it at number 3.
• Milton, the safest city in Georgia, saw violent crime rates under 1 per 1,000 people for the third year in a row. 
• 75% of the safest cities reported zero murders.

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

Whether your city made our list or not, we encourage everyone to be proactive about home security. Learn more about your home security options—and find out which companies we recommend for every budget and lifestyle in our roundup of the Best Home Security Systems.

We calculated crime rates for every city in the state that met our population threshold, based on the state’s median population. 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 2019.

Click on the state image or dropdown menu below to check out the safest cities for each state.

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FBI: Uniform Crime Reporting Program, “2019 Crime in the United States,” Accessed March 15, 2021.

US Census Bureau, "Data Explorer," Accessed November 18, 2020.

Best Places, “Find a Place Search Tool,” Accessed January 6, 2021.

SafeWise, “2021 State of Safety survey,” Accessed March 15, 2021.

Gun Violence Archive, “Past Summary Ledgers,” Accessed January 6, 2021.

Gun Violence Archive, “General Methodology,” Accessed March 15, 2021.

Melody Hicks, Ben Stickle, Joshua Harms, American Journal of Criminal Justice, “Assessing the Fear of Package Theft,” January 04, 2021. Accessed March 15, 2021.

For definitions and more on data sources, see our methodology page.