Utah’s 20 Safest Cities of 2020

The SafeWise Team is pleased to release the sixth annual Safest Cities report.

Here are the 10 Safest Cities in Utah for 2020. 

1. Highland/Alpine
2. Spanish Fork
3. Kaysville
4. Syracuse
5. North Ogden
6. Saratoga Springs
7. Pleasant Grove
8. Farmington
9. Lehi
10. Clinton

See if your city made the list.

Concern about safety in the Beehive State is much higher than in the rest of the country, and reported experience with crime also exceeds national averages. However, the state’s crime rates went down year over year, helping the 20 cities that made our list stand out as pillars of community safety. 

See the complete list of Utah’s 20 safest cities of 2020. 

High concern about safety in Utah increased 68% this year, jumping from 31% to 52%. The national average is 46%. Utah also saw steep increases in people reporting a personal experience with either violent or property crime.

View the complete 2020 State of Safety report.

Although Utah’s violent crime rate is lower than the national average (2.3 compared to 3.7), the percentage of people reporting a personal experience with violent crime over the past 12 months climbed by 13 points. That puts Utah higher than the national average of 12%. 

Experience with property crime also went up year over year, nearly doubling from 16% to 31%. That makes more sense given that Utah’s property crime rate of 23.8 incidents per 1,000 is higher than the national rate of 22.0. But Utah is trending downward—dropping four points from last year’s property crime rate of 27.8.

Violent Crime in Utah: Fear vs. Reality 

Being assaulted by a stranger is the number one violent crime concern in Utah, and it’s the crime most people feel is most likely to happen.

• 40% of Utah survey participants said physical assault by a stranger is the most concerning violent crime, matching the national average of 40%.
• 27% named physical assault by a stranger as the violent crime most likely to occur, compared to 26% nationwide.  
• Aggravated assault is the most common violent crime in Utah, accounting for 50% of the incidents reported by the safest cities and 59% of all violent crime across the state.  
• Rape was the second-most reported crime in the safest cities, making up 40% of all violent crime. Statewide, there were more rapes reported than robberies, comprising 24% of all violent crime. That’s higher than most other states.
• Sexual assault by a stranger was the second most concerning crime in Utah, with 37% of respondents saying they are highly concerned about it. Only 17% said they feel likely to become a victim of sexual assault by a stranger.

Property Crime in Utah: Fear vs. Reality 

Folks in the Beehive State are most concerned about someone breaking in when there’s no one at home, but they think it’s more likely that someone will break into their car.  

• 65% of Utahns, versus 62% of all Americans, expressed highest concern about a break-in when the occupants are out.  
• Burglary made up 12% of all property crime reported by the safest cities and 13% of all property crime in Utah.
• The most prevalent property crime in Utah was larceny-theft, totalling 76% of the state’s property crimes and 82% of the incidents reported by the safest cities.
• A vehicle break-in is the property crime considered most likely by Utah respondents, with 39% of them naming it, versus 36% nationally. 
• 30% of Utah respondents said they use a home security system. That’s six points higher than the national average of 24%.
• A guard dog or other animal is the security measure used the most across Utah, with 36% using one. Nationwide, 33% use a guard animal for protection. 
• 25% reported that they don’t use any kind of extra protection on their property, just under the national average of 29%. 

A Closer Look at Utah’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.

• Highland/Alpine moved up from number two to become the safest city in Utah for 2020. These cities share a police department, so crime statistics are reported collectively. 
• Thirteen cities (65%) improved rank year over year, with Syracuse making the biggest move—jumping from 20 last year to claim the fourth spot.
• Five cities (25%) fell in the rankings this year but still remained in the top 20.
• All cities came in well under both state (2.3) and national (3.7) violent crime rates, with the highest rate being 1.4 incidents per 1,000 in Roy and Logan.
• 13 cities (65%) limited violent crime to less than one incident per 1,000, with Highland/Alpine boasting the lowest violent crime rate (0.2), followed by Spanish Fork and North Ogden with 0.3 each.
• No city reported more than 77 total violent crimes, which is impressive for cities ranging from 19,000 to nearly 100,000.
• Statewide, Utah may have a slightly higher property crime rate than the national average, but its safest cities kept property crime to below 20 incidents/1,000 across the board. 
• Five cities (25%) have property crime rates under 10 incidents per 1,000.

The 20 Safest Cities in Utah

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”