The 20 Safest Cities in Indiana—2017

Alexia Chianis Jul 10, 2017

Indiana is known for its farmland, friendly folks, and epic auto race—but that’s not all the Hoosier State has to offer. It’s also a relatively safe place to live, with many cities taking a collaborative approach to problem solving. For example, Indianapolis lawmakers recently earmarked $400,000 for nonprofits like the Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition,¹ which supports law enforcement by focusing on conflict resolution as a crime prevention tactic.

A strong partnership between citizens and law enforcement carries through to the state’s twenty safest cities. This is especially true in Fishers, the ninth-safest city in Indiana, based on data from the most recent FBI crime report. The Fishers Police Department hosts a citizen’s academy and manages a well-established Neighborhood Watch program—both of which nurture relationships between security-minded residents and police. This hand-in-hand approach to crime fighting appears to be working quite well as Fishers cited just twenty-one violent crimes in 2015.

Taking a closer look at the FBI data, we found that seven of the safest cities in Indiana reported fewer than one dozen violent crimes, and Carmel—which has over 88,000 citizens—reported just thirteen. What’s more, citizens living in 50% of the cities on our list had less than one out of 1,000 chance of experiencing a violent crime during the reporting period.

The safest cities in Indiana are doing an equally stellar job of keeping property crime at bay, especially when it comes to burglary. More than half of the cities reported fewer than twenty burglaries and Ligonier, the safest city in Indiana, cited just one. We send special congratulations to third-ranked Berne for reporting the fewest total incidents of property crime—a mere sixteen.

SafeWise hopes you never become a victim, but no one is immune from crime. In fact, in the United States, a violent crime occurs every twenty-six seconds, and a property crime takes place almost every four seconds.²

The good news is that taking a proactive approach to personal safety and home security may help reduce your chance of being victimized. Start by exploring our Indiana Safety Directory, where you’ll find a variety of helpful information—including our top burglary prevention tips, a color-coded map of the most and least burglarized counties in the state, and the five best home security systems in Indiana.

How We Chose the Safest Cities in Indiana

To identify the safest cities in Indiana, we reviewed the 2015 FBI Crime Report statistics and population data. We eliminated all cities with fewer than 4,000 residents as well as any cities that failed to submit a complete crime report to the FBI.

From there, we evaluated the remaining cities. We narrowed the list down based on the number of reported violent crimes (aggravated assault, murder, rape, and robbery) and property crimes (burglary, arson, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft) in each city. To level the playing field, we calculated the likelihood of these crimes occurring out of 1,000 people in each city.

Learn more about how we rank our Safest Cities reports.

1. Ligonier

Previous Rank: 1

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.23
Property Crimes per 1,000: 3.87

2. Zionsville

Previous Rank: 2

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.84
Property Crimes per 1,000: 3.84

3. Berne ↑

Previous Rank: 5

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 1.24
Property Crimes per 1,000: 3.95 

4. St. John ↓

Previous Rank: 3

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.18
Property Crimes per 1,000: 5.30

5. Lowell ↑

Previous Rank: 15

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 1.27
Property Crimes per 1,000: 8.17

6. Carmel ↑

Previous Rank: 7

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.15
Property Crimes per 1,000: 9.87 

7. New Whiteland ↓

Previous Rank: 4

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 1.70
Property Crimes per 1,000: 8.49

8. Porter ↑

Previous Rank: 17

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.61
Property Crimes per 1,000: 10.23

9. Fishers ↓

Previous Rank: 8

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.24
Property Crimes per 1,000: 10.62

10. Jasper

Previous Rank: 10

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 1.10
Property Crimes per 1,000: 9.94

11. Dyer ↑

Previous Rank: 12

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.12
Property Crimes per 1,000: 11.42

12. Westfield ↑

Previous Rank: 13

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.87
Property Crimes per 1,000: 11.12

13. Chesterton

Previous Rank: Not ranked

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.96
Property Crimes per 1,000: 12.69 

14. Lawrenceburg ↑

Previous Rank: 41

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.60
Property Crimes per 1,000: 13.31

15. Batesville

Previous Rank: Not ranked

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 4.28
Property Crimes per 1,000: 9.93

16. Brownsburg ↑

Previous Rank: 18

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 1.47
Property Crimes per 1,000: 15.82

17. Valparaiso ↑

Previous Rank: 26

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 1.05
Property Crimes per 1,000: 16.45

18. Bremen ↑

Previous Rank: 25

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 5.45
Property Crimes per 1,000: 12.42

19. Cedar Lake ↑

Previous Rank: 28

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 1.17
Property Crimes per 1,000: 16.78

20. Danville ↓

Previous Rank: 16

Violent Crimes per 1,000: 2.06
Property Crimes per 1,000: 15.93

Didn’t see your city rank in the top 20?

Check the remaining cities below, and take a look at the most recent FBI crime data here.

21. Columbia City	22. Sellersburg	23. Munster
24. Nappanee	25. West Lafayette	26. Elwood
27. Huntingburg	28. Plymouth	29. North Manchester
30. Tell City	31. Portage	32. Garrett
33. Ellettsville	34. Tipton	35. Crawfordsville
36. Decatur	37. Auburn	38. Bargersville
39. Hartford City	40. Whitestown	41. Alexandria
42. Highland	43. Bedford	44. Kendallville
45. Greenfield	46. Boonville	47. Gas City
48. Griffith	49. Washington	50. Plainfield
51. Warsaw	52. Charlestown	53. Jeffersonville
54. Fort Wayne	55. Bluffton	56. Merrillville
57. Bloomington	58. Scottsburg	59. Frankfort
60. Whiting	61. La Porte	62. Mooresville
63. Cumberland	64. Kokomo	65. Goshen
66. Peru	67. Avon	68. Angola
69. Hammond	70. Greenwood	71. Clinton
72. Beech Grove	73. Marion	74. Anderson
75. Franklin	76. Columbus	77. East Chicago
78. Logansport	79. Vincennes	80. Lake Station
81. Terre Haute	82. Seymour	83. Gary
84. Mishawaka	85. Shelbyville	86. Michigan City
87. Lafayette	88. Rushville	89. New Albany
90. Speedway	91. Elkhart	92. Evansville
93. Hobart	94. South Bend	95. Indianapolis
96. Winchester	97. Clarksville

How safe is your home?

Wherever you live, feeling safe in your home can bring greater peace of mind and happiness. 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 the home security options available to you, check out SafeWise’s picks for Best Home Security Systems of 2018 or select the city nearest you in the drop down menu below.

If you would like to contact a SafeWise Safest Cities Analyst, please email safestcities@safewise.com.

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1. US News and World Report, “Indianapolis to Spend $400K on Alternative Crime Prevention”
2. FBI: UCR, “Crime Clock”