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.
Carmel
Crown Point
Evansville
Fishers
Gary
Hammond
Indianapolis
Lafayette
Lawrence
Muncie
New Castle
Plymouth
Princeton
South Bend
If you would like to contact a SafeWise Safest Cities Analyst, please email safestcities@safewise.com.
1. US News and World Report, “Indianapolis to Spend $400K on Alternative Crime Prevention”
2. FBI: UCR, “Crime Clock”
Written by Alexia Chianis
Wanderlust junky and mom of two, Alexia is a former police officer and U.S. Army Captain who draws on her experiences to write about a myriad of safety topics. Learn more