Montana’s 5 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.

Montana has above-average crime rates for both violent and property crime. The state is ranked 10th highest for violent crime and 15th highest for property crime.

Montana saw a leveling out in its violent-crime increase and a slight uptick in property crime this reporting year. Still, its safest cities' crime rates fall well below the state average.

Montana experienced the same rate of violent crimes compared to last year, with the violent crime rate staying at 4.7 per 1,000 people. In contrast, the property crime rate rose slightly from 21.2 per 1,000 to 21.5. This is still higher than the national average of 19.3.

Despite the high violent crime, 65% of Montana residents feel safe in their state (US 50%). Those living in The Big Sky Country also appear to have considerably lower concern for violent crime.

• 37% of Montanans reported being concerned about violent crime compared to 49% of Americans.
• 46% of Montanans reported being concerned about safety, compared to 50% of Americans.
• 10% of people in Montana reported having a personal experience with violent crime in the last 12 months prior to the survey—up from 8% the previous year.
• 39% of survey respondents report using some form of personal protection—matching the US average.
• 38% of Montana residents say their personal safety has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to 44% of Americans.

• 37% of those surveyed named gun violence as a safety concern (US 47%).
• 9% of Montana residents reported having experience with gun violence (US 12%).
• Montana has had 0 mass shootings in the past four years, which is incredibly rare. It leads the nation in the fewest mass shootings.
• 51% said they use a concealed weapon for personal protection (US 41%). 

Montana's property crime rate is higher than the national average, and more residents told us they personally experienced property crime this reporting year. Maybe not surprisingly, Montanans are more concerned about property crime happening to them than violent crime. But Montana is less concerned about property crime than the nation as a whole.

• More Montana residents (24%) reported personal experiences with property crime this reporting year compared the year before (17%)—an increase of 41%.
• 25% of participants reported experiencing package theft in the 12 months prior to the survey, putting Montana well below the US average of 34%. This is one of the lowest rates in the country.
• 26% of survey respondents use no form of property protection. This is above the 24% national average.
• Montana’s property crime rate (21.5 per 1,000) is higher than the US rate (19.3) and  higher than its regional average of 20.9.
• Montana's top form of property protection this year was guard dogs, with 43% of survey respondents using them (higher than the 34% national average).
• 18% of Montanans say the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the security of their property (US 28%).

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.

• Every safest city’s violent crime rate is below state and US rates.
• Deer Lodge is new to the top five list this year and reported zero murders, rapes, and robberies. 
• There was one report of murder among the safest cities.
• All of the top four safest cities reported zero robberies.
• All the safest cities have property crime rates well below the state and US rates.
• Larceny-theft was the most common crime among the safest cities, with over 700 incidents.

We calculated crime rates for every city in the state that met our population threshold, based on the state’s median population as calculated using FBI data. To request a report of the remaining cities in your state email info@safewise.com with the subject line: Safest Cities Full Report.

NOTE: If your city is missing from our full report, it means that it was below the population threshold or didn’t submit a complete crime report to the FBI in 2021.

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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.