Indiana’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 Indiana for 2020. See if your city made the list.

Hoosiers are generally more concerned about their safety than the rest of America. If you live in one of the state’s safest cities, though, you have less to be concerned about on a daily basis.

See Indiana’s 20 safest cities of 2020.

Half of the respondents to our 2020 State of Safety survey reported that they worry about their safety and security every day. That’s an increase of five percentage points from last year, and four points higher than the average level of concern across the country.

View the complete 2020 State of Safety report.

Indiana reported a big jump in personal experience with property crime year over year. The number of participants who disclosed a run-in with property crime in the past 12 months increased by 386% (from 7% to 34%).

Statewide property crime rates (21.8) are slightly lower than the national average of 22.0 incidents per 1,000. Indiana’s violent crime rate (3.8) is barely above the national rate of 3.7. Both state crime rates decreased from 2019 to 2020.

Violent Crime in Indiana: Fear vs. Reality

Being robbed on the street is the violent crime that keeps the most people up at night in the Hoosier state, but robbery isn’t the most prevalent violent crime in Indiana.

• 49% of survey participants said robbery was their top violent crime concern, versus 38% nationwide.
• 33% also named robbery as the crime they feel most likely to fall victim to, compared to 27% nationwide.
• Robbery was the second most common violent crime among the safest cities, accounting for 26% of all violent crime in the safest cities and 23% statewide.
• Aggravated assault was the most reported violent crime, making up 54% of all violent crime incidents reported among the safest cities and 66% across the state.
• 46% said they had high concern about assault by a stranger, making it the second most worrisome violent crime in Indiana, but only 28% think that it is likely to happen to them.

Property Crime in Indiana: Fear vs. Reality

When it comes to property crime, Indiana residents are most concerned about someone breaking into their home, but that fear doesn’t line up with crime statistics in the Hoosier State.

• 69% expressed high concern about someone breaking in when they’re at home—that’s 11 percentage points higher than the national level of concern (58%).
• A break-in when they’re not home was the second most worrisome property crime, with 66% of participants putting it atop their list of concerns.
• 48% also claimed a break-in when they’re not at home as the crime most likely to happen, compared to 38% across the US.
• Only 9% of the property crimes reported by the safest cities were burglaries, and statewide, burglary makes up 17% of all property crime.
• 28% of respondents have a home security system, which is four percentage points higher than the national average.
• Firearms are the most common form of protection Hoosiers use, with 36% reporting it, compared to 28% nationally.
• Larceny-theft was the most common property crime in Indian, accounting for 83% of all property crime in the safest cities and 70% across the state.
• 60% of respondents named property being stolen as a top concern (making it the third biggest concern), and 41% think it’s likely to happen.

A Closer Look at Indiana’s Safest Cities of 2020

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.

• St. John held on as the number one safest city in Indiana for the third year in a row, with just three violent crimes reported.
• Carmel stayed at number two for the second consecutive year, reporting a violent crime rate of less than one incident per 1,000.
• 35% of the cities improved their rank year over year, and Greenwood made the biggest leap, climbing 14 spots to number 17.
• 25% of the cities dropped in rank YOY.
• Five new cities joined the top 20 this year—Noblesville, Brownsburg, Portage, Lawrence, and Goshen.
• 90% of the cities kept violent crime rates below both state (3.8) and national (3.7) averages.
• 65% reported fewer than 50 total violent crimes.
• 70% reported property crime rates that beat both state (21.8) and national (22.0) rates.
• St. John and Chesterton had the lowest total numbers of property crimes reported, each claiming 111 total incidents.

The 20 Safest Cities in Indiana

VC = Violent Crime
PC = Property Crime

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”