Louisiana’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.

Louisiana reported some of the highest crime rates in the nation for the 2023 reporting year. But it’s not all doom and gloom: property crime in The Pelican State decreased year over year.

On the other hand, violent crime increased, and most Louisianans are concerned about experiencing gun violence or violent crime.

Louisiana has the third-highest violent crime rate and the fourth-highest property crime crime rate in the US. Violent crime in Louisiana rose by 3% year over year and property crime decreased by 7%.

According to our latest State of Safety survey, 32% of Louisianans feel safe in their state, which is the fourth-lowest percentage in the nation—only the residents of Illinois (28%), New York (30%), and New Mexico (31%) feel less safe in their states. On average, 50% of Americans claim to feel safe in their state.

Louisianans expressed some of the nation's highest levels of concern about crime and first-hand experiences with crime across the board. In particular, Louisiana residents are the second-most worried about gun violence (69%) and also the second-most likely to have experienced gun violence in the 12 months prior to the survey (23%). 

About 83% of Louisianans think crime is increasing, which puts them in a tie with Mississippians for the highest percentage in the nation. 

For our 2023 State of Safety Survey, we asked participants about their natural disaster concerns, preparations, and experiences. Most Louisiana residents worried about hurricanes (79% LA, 42% US), flooding (70% LA, 48% US), and strong or high winds (69% LA, 62% US).

Louisianans are more likely than the average American to have some sort of disaster protection. Their most common strategies include a family emergency plan (51% LA, 40% US), emergency kits (48% LA, 44% US), and other safety equipment (39% LA, 18% US). About 23% of Louisiana residents said they've considered relocating (10% US).

Around 52% of Louisianans said they evacuated due to a natural disaster during the 12 months prior to the survey, which is the highest percentage in the nation and well above the national average of 11%. 

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

View the complete 2023 State of Safety report.

About 66% of Louisiana residents worry about violent crime happening to them, which is the third-highest percentage in the nation.

This fear seems substantiated by Louisiana’s violent crime rate of 6.6 incidents per 1,000 people, which is the third-highest in the nation and represents a 3% increase compared to the previous reporting year. 

Around 24% of Louisiana respondents claimed to have experienced a violent crime in the 12 months prior to the survey, which is the second-highest percentage in the nation and represents a 118% increase from the previous year's survey.

Only Georgia residents reported a higher percentage of violent crime experiences (26%), while New York, South Carolina, Illinois, and Oklahoma tie with Louisiana at 24%. 

• Violent crime accounts for 20% of all crime in Louisiana (US 17%).
• 47% of Louisiana residents use some form of personal protection (US 39%).
• Of the Louisianans who use personal protection, 47% prefer concealed firearms and 43% use pepper spray.
• 48% of Louisiana residents said they added or increased security or safety measures during the 12 months prior to the survey, which is the highest percentage in the nation.
• Louisiana ties with Alabama, Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia for the highest self-defense incident rate nationwide: 0.8 per 100,000 people.

• 69% of Louisianans worry about gun violence, which is the second-highest percentage in the nation (47% US).
• 23% experienced gun violence in the 12 months prior to the survey, which is the second-highest percentage in the nation and represents a year-over-year increase of 188%.
• 28 mass shooting events occurred in Louisiana during the reporting year.

About 62% of Louisiana survey respondents said they worried about property crime—the fifth-highest percentage nationwide—and 65% worried about package theft—the third-highest percentage nationwide. 

When it comes to first-hand experiences with property crime and package theft, Louisiana residents top the charts at 43% and 51%, respectively. To put those percentages into perspective, West Virginians and New Mexicans tied for the second-most property crime experiences at 39%, and New Yorkers and Oklahomans tied for the second-most package theft experiences at 44%.

Even though Louisiana’s property crime rate of 26.7 is high, it represents a 7% decrease year over year. In contrast, Louisianans reported a 126% increase in property crime experiences and a 143% increase in package theft experiences.

• Burglary accounts for 22% of all property crime in Louisiana, which is the highest percentage in the nation (14% US). 
• Of the Louisiana residents who use some form of property protection, most prefer security cameras (55%) or a security system (41%).
• Of the Louisianans who use some form of package theft prevention, most prefer doorbell cameras (47% LA, 28% US).

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.

• 29 Louisiana cities met the criteria for ranking.
• Jennings made the biggest leap up the list, moving up 15 spots to land in second place.
• Only Baker, Jennings, Broussard, and Lake Charles saw decreases in both property crime and violent crime compared to the previous year. 
• Only Baker, Jennings, Rayne, Harahan, Broussard, and DeRidder have violent crime rates and property crime rates below the national averages. 
• 3% of Louisiana's murders occurred in its 10 safest cities during the 2023 reporting year.

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

• Best Home Security Systems
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• Burglary Stats & Facts
• The Most Burglarized City in Every State
• The Best Personal Safety Devices for Every Situation
• 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.