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

If you call The Bay State home, chances are you’re less worried about safety on a daily basis than folks in other states. It’s not surprising when you look at the low crime rates across the state—especially in this year’s 20 safest cities in Massachusetts. 

See the full list of Massachusetts’s safest cities of 2020. 

According to our 2020 State of Safety study, only 39% of Massachusetts residents are highly concerned about their safety every day. That’s seven points below the national average of 46%. 

View the complete 2020 State of Safety report.

Both crime rates and levels of personal experience with crime are lower than average in Massachusetts. This year, Massachusetts respondents reported fewer personal violent crime incidents than in 2019. Only 8% said they experienced violent crime in the past 12 months—down from 9% last year, and four points below the national average of 12%. 

Property crime experiences in Massachusetts increased year over year, but 13% is half the nationwide average of 26%. The state’s property crime rate is impressively low as well. At 12.6 incidents per 1,000, the Bay State is nearly 10 points below the national rate of 22.0.

Violent Crime in Massachusetts: Fear vs. Reality

Massachusetts is one of only three states to name murder by a stranger as the most worrisome violent crime issue—Arkansas and California are the other two. Concern for being murdered by someone you know is even less common, despite the fact that people are more likely to be murdered by someone they know than a stranger. 

• 38% said they are most afraid of being murdered by a stranger, compared to 36% nationwide. 
• Only 18% reported concern about being murdered by someone they know, versus 20% across the country. 
• 90% of the safest cities had no murders in 2018, and statewide, murder made up only 0.6% of all violent crime in the state (136 incidents out of 23,337 total).
• 29% called out physical assault by a stranger as the crime they think is most likely to happen. Nationwide, 40% agree.
• The most common violent crime in Massachusetts was aggravated assault, accounting for 72% of the incidents reported among the safest cities and 71% across the state.

Property Crime in Massachusetts: Fear vs. Reality 

Massachusetts is more in line with the rest of the country when it comes to property crime. A break-in when the residents are at home is the top property crime worry, but the crime voted most likely to happen is a break-in when residents are away from home.

• 56% named someone breaking in when they’re at home as the most concerning property crime. That’s in line with 58% across the country who share the same worry.
• 39% think it’s more likely that someone will break in when they aren’t at home, along with 38% nationwide.
• Burglary made up just 17% of all property crime reported by the safest cities and 16% of all property crime statewide.
• Top city Hopkinton reported zero burglaries in 2018.
• Larceny-theft was the most common property crime, accounting for 79% of all incidents in the safest cities and 77% statewide. 
• 24% of Massachusetts respondents use a security system to protect their home, matching the national average of 24%.
• 23% use a dog or other guard animal, making that the second most common security measure in the state. Across the US, 33% report using a guard animal.
• 37% of Massachusetts residents use no form of protection or security, versus 29% nationally.

A Closer Look at Massachusetts’s Safest Cities of 2020

For the purposes of this report, the terms “safest” and “dangerous” refer explicitly to crime rates as calculated from FBI crime data—no other characterization of any community is implied or intended.

• Hopkinton remains the number one safest city in Massachusetts for the second consecutive year—boasting a violent crime rate of 0.1 incidents per 1,000 and a property crime rate of 1.6.
• 55% of the cities improved rank year over year, with Andover the most impressive, jumping 66 spots to number eight.
• Only four cities dropped in rank year over year.
• Two new cities joined the rankings this year—Lexington and Scituate.
• All cities came in under both state (3.4) and national (3.7) violent crime rates. No city reported more than one violent crime incident per 1,000.
• 90% of the cities had fewer than 20 total violent crimes reported, and 90% reported no murders.
• All cities are below state (12.6) and national (22.0) property crime rates, and no city reported more than 6.3 incidents per 1,000 residents.

Norton reported the fewest total number of property crimes (23) and the lowest property crime rate (1.2), but a slightly higher violent crime rate of 0.7 held the city to number five.

The 20 Safest Cities in Massachusetts

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”
BestPlaces, “Find a Place Search Tool”