Mississippi’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.

In our 2023 State of Safety survey, only 34% of Mississippians said they feel safe in their state, despite the state ranking seventh for the lowest violent crime rates and eighteenth for the lowest property crime rates.

Mississippi is doing better than the year before, gradually becoming one of our safest states. Its violent crime rate is 39% lower than the national average, and its property crime rate is 7% lower than the national average. Plus, the state's safest cities have a much lower crime rate than the rest of The Magnolia State.

Mississippi's violent crime rate decreased year over year from 2.9 reported per 1,000 residents to 2.4. Property crime had an even bigger drop from 21.0 property crimes in 1,000 people to 17.9. Overall, Mississippi had over 7,000 violent crimes and over 52,000 property crimes in the reporting year.

The amount of residents that say they feel safe in their state has dropped by 31% year over year. Only 34% say they feel safe (US 50%). This may be due to the slight increase of mass shootings. 

• Mississippi had 14 mass shootings, an increase of 7.7%.
• The state ranks in second place for the most mass shootings per capita in the nation—a rate that's 150% higher than the national average. 
• 18% of survey respondents reported having a personal experience with violent crime 12 months prior to the survey—up 3 percentage points from last year.
• Like most states, murder is the least common violent crime in The Magnolia State.
• 57% of survey participants report using some form of personal protection like stun guns or pepper spray. This is more than most Americans—the national average lands at 39%.
• 45% of Mississippians say their personal safety has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (compared to 44% of Americans).

• 13% of residents surveyed reported an experience with gun violence in the 12 months prior to the survey (US 12%).
• Guns are the most popular form of personal protection. 60% said they use a concealed weapon as a form of personal protection (US 41%). 
• 56% of those surveyed are worried about a gun violence incident happening to them (US 47%).

Even though property crime is decreasing, more than half of the residents surveyed said they are concerned about property crime. 

• 53% of residents said they were concerned about property crime.
• 32% said they had personal experience with property crime during the 12 reporting months.
• 37% of participants reported experiencing package theft in the 12 months prior to the survey, putting Mississippi below the US average of 34%.
• 19% of Mississippians surveyed use no form of property protection. This is below the 24% average for the US.
• The top forms of property protection in Mississippi were firearms (45%) and security cameras (39%). 
• 36% of Mississippi residents say the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the security of their property (US 28%). That's up 20% from the year before.

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.

• This year, Madison is new to the list and popped in at #1. Holly Springs, Kosciusko, and Pass Christian are also new to the list.
• None of the top 10 safest cities reported more than 2.1 violent crimes per 1,000 residents.
• The top four safest cities reported zero murders.
• Holly Springs had the lowest amount of property crimes, reporting only 25 for the year.
• Only one city, Petal, reported zero murders and zero robberies.
• The top ten cites reported a total of six murders combined.

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

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• 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.