New Mexico’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 New Mexico for 2020. See if your city made the list.

If you live in New Mexico you might be less concerned about safety on a daily basis than many others in the US—despite higher crime rates. New Mexico’s 20 safest cities of 2020 are the best places in the Land of Enchantment to put your worries aside and enjoy safe communities. 

See the full list of  New Mexico’s 20 safest cities of 2020. 

Our 2020 State of Safety report showed that 42% of New Mexico respondents feel high or very high concern about their safety every day. That’s 4 points below the national average of 46%, and 4 points lower than the level of statewide concern last year.

View the complete 2020 State of Safety report.

The violent crime rate in New Mexico is one of the highest in the country—8.6 incidents per 1,000 people, compared to 3.7 across the country. Property crime is also higher than national averages, coming in at 34.2 incidents per 1,000, versus 22.0 nationwide. 

Year-over-year, violent crime increased across the state (last year’s rate was 7.8), but property crime went down (last year’s rate was 39.1). We saw increases in both areas in regard to personal experience with crime in the last 12 months. 

Reports of experience with violent crime rose from 12% to 14% this year, and reports of experience with property crime jumped from 25% to 33%. National averages for experience with crime are 12% for violent crime and 26% for property crime. 

Violent Crime in New Mexico: Fear vs. Reality

Being robbed on the street is the violent crime for which New Mexicans expressed the highest concern. It’s also the violent crime they think is most likely to actually happen. 

• 50% are worried about being robbed on the street, compared to just 38% nationwide. 
• 35% believe they are most likely to fall victim to a robbery on the street, versus 27% nationwide.
• Robbery was the second most common violent crime in New Mexico, claiming 12% of all violent crime reported among the safest cities and 16% across the state.
• The most common violent crime was aggravated assault, comprising 75% of the incidents reported among the safest cities and 76% across the state.

Property Crime in New Mexico: Fear vs. Reality

Vehicle break-ins are the top property crime concern in New Mexico, and it’s the crime people think is most likely to occur. 

• 65% (versus 51% nationally) said they had high concern about someone breaking into their vehicle. 
• 40% felt that a vehicle break-in is the property crime that’s most likely to actually happen to them, compared to 36% nationally.  
• Vehicle theft made up 8% of the total property crime incidents in the safest cities and 14% statewide. 
• Larceny-theft, which is closer to a car break-in was the most common property crime in New Mexico, accounting for 68% of all incidents reported in the safest cities and 63% across the state. 
• 31% of New Mexico respondents use a security system at home, versus 24% nationwide. 
• A dog or other guard animal is the most widely-used security measure across the state, with 43% using them, compared to 33% across the US. 
• 23% use no form of security to protect their home, which is 6 points below the national average of 29%.

A Closer Look at New Mexico’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.

• Corrales is the safest city in New Mexico for the third consecutive year, with just three violent crimes and 43 property crimes reported.
• Only seven cities (35%) improved in rank year over year, with Bosque Farms making the biggest jump—nine spots from 16 to 7.
• Nearly half of the cities (45%) dropped in rank this year.
• Two new cities joined the list this year: Lovington and Las Cruces. Las Cruces didn’t submit a report to the FBI last year.
• Seven cities (35%) beat the national violent crime rate (3.7), and 95% did better than the state violent crime rate (8.6).
• Thirteen cities (65%) reported fewer than 100 total violent crimes. 
• Three cities had fewer than two violent crime incidents per 1,000: Corrales, Los Alamos, and Lovington.
• Sixteen cities are below the state property crime rate (34.2) and six cities performed better than the national property crime rate (22.0): Corrales, Los Alamos, Anthony, Grants, Rio Rancho, and Bosque Farms.
• Anthony had the fewest total property crimes reported, with just 41 total incidents.

The 20 Safest Cities in New Mexico

VC = Violent Crime
PC = Property Crime

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”