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

Ohio has higher levels of concern about safety than most of the United States—despite lower crime rates. The state’s safest cities of 2020 exemplify why many residents of the Buckeye State should feel safer than they do.

See which towns made Ohio’s 20 safest cities of 2020. 

With 56% reporting high concern about their safety on a daily basis, Ohio comes in 10 points above the national average of 46% compared to other states in our State of Safety Survey 2020. Ohio respondents also reported higher personal experiences with crime, which could explain why concern is so high.

View the complete 2020 State of Safety report.

Ohio has the highest number of people who’ve experienced violent crime in the past year (24% compared to 12% nationally) and the second-highest number to ever experience a mass shooting (13% versus 7% nationwide). Ohio respondents’ experience with property crime is just one point higher than the national average.  

Although reports of personal experience with crime rose year over year, both violent and property crime rates dropped statewide. Violent crime went from 3.0 incidents per 1,000 to 2.8, and property crime fell from 24.1 last year to 21.8.

Violent Crime in Ohio: Fear vs. Reality

It’s not surprising that mass shootings are the top violent crime fear in Ohio, especially with such high reports of people who’ve been affected by one during their lifetime. Residents diverge when it comes to which crime they think is most likely to happen, naming robbery.

• 42% said they have the highest concern about becoming the victim of a mass shooting, compared to 38% nationally.  
• Between 2014 and 2019 Ohio has had 78 mass shootings, resulting in 97 dead and 318 injured.
• The 30-second mass shooting in downtown Dayton in August 2019 was one of the deadliest ever in the state. 
• As of July 15, 2020, there have been nine mass shootings in Ohio this year, resulting in five deaths and 47 injured. The largest incident was the motorcycle club shooting in Cleveland that killed one and injured 18.
• 28% said they felt that being robbed on the street is the violent crime that’s most likely to happen, versus 27% nationwide. 
• There were only 11 robberies reported among the safest cities. Robbery accounted for 9% of all violent crime in those cities and 28% statewide.

Property Crime in Ohio: Fear vs. Reality

Having a break-in when there’s no one home is the primary property crime concern in Ohio. It’s also the crime thought most likely to occur. 

• 65% are most worried about a break-in when the residents are away, versus 62% nationally. 
• 39% also named a break-in while away from home as the property crime that is most likely to happen to them. Nationwide, 38% agree.  
• Burglary was the second most prevalent property crime, making up 13% of all incidents in the safest cities and 19% across the state.
• Regardless of high concern, just 17% of Ohio respondents have a home security system. The national average is 24%. 
• Firearms and guard animals are the most common security methods employed in Ohio, with 32% of respondents claiming those security measures. Nationwide, 33% use a guard animal and 28% rely on firearms. 
• A whopping 37% don’t use anything to protect or secure their home, compared to 29% across the US. 

A Closer Look at Ohio’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.

• This year, three new cities joined the lists: Rocky River, Hamilton Township, and North Royalton.
• Fourteen cities (70%) improved in rank year over year, with Clearcreek Township leading the way—jumping 49 places to number seven.
• Two cities dropped in rank this year, Montville Township and Brecksville, but they still held onto a place in the state’s top 20 safest cities.
• Every city on the list beat both state (2.8) and national (3.7) crime rates and every city kept violent crime to fewer than one incident per 1,000.
• Sagamore Hills had the fewest violent crimes reported, with zero.
• Seventeen cities (85%) reported 10 or fewer total violent crimes. 
• All cities did better than state (21.8) and national (22.0) property crime rates, with no city exceeding eight incidents per 1,000 people. 
• Broadview Heights had the lowest property crime rate, at 0.9 incidents per 1,000 and a total of 18 property crimes reported.
• Eight cities (40%) reported fewer than 50 total property crimes and 13 (65%) reported less than 100.

The 20 Safest Cities in Ohio

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”
BestPlaces, “Find a Place Search Tool”
Gun Violence Archive (GVA), “Mass Shootings Reports”

Mass Shooting Definition

SafeWise uses the GVA definition of a mass shooting: “If four or more people are shot or killed in a single incident, not involving the shooter, that incident is categorized as a mass shooting based purely on that numerical threshold.”