Utah’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.

According to our 2023 State of Safety report, Utah is less concerned overall about crime and safety than most of the country, with the least-worrisome issues being violent crime and gun violence. Chances are people who live in one of Utah’s 10 safest cities have even less to worry about, especially when it comes to violent and property crime.

Utah's violent crime rate slightly reversed a multi-year rise this year. While the overall violent crime rate stayed at 2.6 incidents per 1,000 people, violent crime decreased by 0.3%. The property crime rate in The Beehive State resumed a downward trajectory after spiking last year, moving down from 24.6 incidents per 1,000 people in to 21.3 this year—lower than two years ago.

Within the Mountain region, Utah tied with Arizona for the third-lowest violent crime rate, just behind Wyoming (2.4) and Idaho (2.5). Utah had the third lowest property crime rate in the region behind Idaho (10.5) and Arizona (14.4).

At a national level, Utah is well below the collective violent crime rate (US 4.0) but 10% higher than the property crime rate (US 19.6). Among the 41 states that met reporting requirements this year, Utah has the eleventh-lowest violent crime rate and the sixteenth-highest property crime rate.

Utahns are 11% less worried about crime and safety than Americans in most other states—and 72% say Utah is a safe state to call home. Experience with violent crime tripled to 12% in this year's survey compared to the previous survey year (4%) but remained below the national levels (US 15%). When it comes to which crime Utahns fear could happen to them, gun violence and violent crime are the least worrying.

• Utah reports 1.4 fewer violent crime incidents per 1,000 people than the national average.
• All of the safest cities reported lower violent crime rates than the rest of the state.
• Robberies, murders, and aggravated assaults each make up a smaller percentage of violent crimes in Utah than they do across most of the country.
• Rape makes up a significantly higher percentage of violent crimes in Utah than it does nationally (25% versus 11% nationwide)—it's 43% in safest cities.

• 34% of Utahns use some form of personal protection like a stun gun or pepper spray (US 39%).
• The top form of personal protection used by Utah respondents this survey year was a pocket knife (44%). This is higher than the national average of 43%.
• 41% say their personal safety has been affected by the pandemic (US 44%).

• 45% of Utah survey respondents are worried about a gun violence incident happening to them (US 47%).
• 10% of participants said they experienced gun violence during the 12 months prior to the survey (US 12%).
• Utah saw no mass shooting incidents in 2022—1 less than in 2021.
• For every police officer killed or injured by a gun in Utah in 2022, 10 suspects experienced the same.
• There were 5 self-defense shooting incidents in Utah in 2022—down from 10 the year before.

Package theft is the most worrisome category of crime in The Beehive State, which may reflect the overall increase in package theft experiences rate this survey year. In fact, property crime as a whole, and package theft specifically, are the most concerning crimes for Utahns.

• 53% are concerned about property crime happening to them—3 percentage points higher than the national average of 50%.
• Larceny-theft is the most prevalent property crime in Utah, making up 78% of all reported property crime—7% higher than the proportion nationally.
• Burglary is less common in Utah than throughout the country, accounting for 11% of all property crime in the state, versus 14% of all property crime in the US.
• Every safest city in Utah reported lower property crime rates than the state and national rates.

• 70% of survey participants use some form of property protection (US 76%).
• The top forms of property protection among Utahns are security cameras (40%) and security systems (27%).
• 31% say the security of their property has been affected by the pandemic (US 28%).

• 30% of survey respondents in Utah reported experiencing package theft in the 12 months prior to the survey (US 34%).
• 58% of participants expressed a high level of concern about package theft—above the US average of 53%.
• The preferred methods of package protection in Utah are video doorbells (32%) and verified delivery (27%). While Utah's preference for verified delivery matches the US average, it's higher for video doorbells (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.

• 33 cities met criteria to be considered for ranking.
• Lone Peak, the combined police department for Alpine and Highland, is our number 1 for the second consecutive year.
• 3 new cities made the top 10 this year: Kaysville, Riverton, and Payson.
• Payson saw the largest jump in ranking this year, moving up 8 spots to land at number 8.
• Fourth-ranked Herriman is the largest city on our list with a population of 61,086.
• Spanish Fork is the only top 10 city from last year that improved in rank this year.
• 4 cities kept their spots from last year: Lone Peak (1), Syracuse (3), Herriman (4), and Saratoga Springs (9).

• The violent crime rate in the safest cities is 0.8 incidents per 1,000 people—68% lower than the state rate (2.6).
• There were 0 reported murders in the safest cities this year compared to 98 statewide.
• 7 of the safest cities (70%) reported 30 or fewer total violent crimes.
• Lone Peak has the lowest violent crime rate in the state at 0.4 incidents per 1,000 people. The city had just 12 violent crime reports this year.

• The property crime rate in the safest cities is 9.0 incidents per 1,000 people—58% lower than the state rate (21.3).
• Lone Peak reported the lowest property crime rate in Utah with just 5.8 incidents per 1,000 people.
• None of the safest cities reported fewer than 176 total property crimes.

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.

• Best Home Security Systems
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• Burglary Stats & Facts
• The Most Burglarized City in Every State
• The Best Personal Safety Devices for Every Situation
• 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.