Virginia’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 Virginia for 2020. 

1. Broadway
2. Bridgewater
3. Lexington
4. Berryville
5. Vienna
6. Purcellville
7. Blacksburg
8. Buena Vista
9. Manassas Park
10. Falls Church

See if your city made the full list.

General concern about safety is lower in Virginia than in the rest of the country. That’s not surprising when you see how low Virginia’s crime rates are, especially in its 20 safest cities.

Find out if your town is one of Virginia’s 20 safest cities of 2020. 

Our 2020 State of Safety report found that daily concern about safety decreased by 12 percentage points year over year in the Old Dominion State. Reports of experience with violent crime also went down, dropping from 8% to 4%.

View the complete 2020 State of Safety report.

Of the Virginians we talked to, 40% indicated they feel high concern about their safety on a daily basis, compared to 46% nationwide. Virginia is also the only state to report half as much experience with violent crime over the past 12 months. Nationwide, 12% reported a recent run-in with violent crime. 

When it comes to experience with property crime, Virginia saw an increase of six percentage points, but it remained below the national average of 26%. The property crime rate in Virginia is 16.7 incidents per 1,000, compared to 22.0 across the country. Violent crime is also lower than national rates. Virginia comes in at 2.0 and the national rate is 3.7.

Violent Crime in Virginia: Fear vs. Reality 

Falling victim to a mass shooting is the violent crime concern that worries Virginians the most. But survey respondents felt that being robbed on the street was most likely to occur. 

• 45% of Virginia respondents to the State of Safety indicated that they have high concern about mass shootings, versus 38% nationwide. 
• 8% reported that they, or someone they know, has been personally affected by a mass shooting at some time in their life. Nationwide, that number is 7%.
• As of May 6, there has been one mass shooting in Virginia this year. Four were injured in the March incident in Norfolk.
• Between 2014 and 2019, there have been 50 mass shootings in Virginia, resulting in 57 deaths and 199 people injured. Nationwide for the same time period, there were 2,087 mass shooting incidents. 
• In 2019, 12 people lost their lives in a shooting at a municipal building in Virginia Beach. 
• 32% named being robbed on the street as the violent crime that’s most likely to actually happen, versus 27% nationwide. 
• There were 75 robberies reported by the safest cities, making up 22% of all violent crime in those cities. Statewide, robbery accounts for 21% reported violent crimes. 
• Aggravated assault is the most common violent crime in the state, accounting for 53% of reported crime in the safest cities and 59% across Virginia.

Property Crime in Virginia: Fear vs. Reality

Having property stolen is the property crime that Virginians feel is most likely to happen to them, but a break-in when no one’s at home is what worries them the most.  

• 52% of survey respondents said the most concerning property crime is a break-in when there’s no one home. Nationwide, 62% shared the same level of worry for break-ins. 
• Burglary accounted for 8% of all property crime reported by the safest cities and 11% of all property crime in Virginia.
• 34% felt that the most likely property crime is having property stolen, compared to 36% across the US.
• Larceny-theft is the most common property crime in Virginia, totalling 81% of the state’s property crimes and 87% of the property crimes reported by the safest cities.
• 27% of Virginia respondents have a home security system, which is more than the national average of 24%. 
• The security measure used the most in Virginia is a dog or other guard animal, according to 25% of survey respondents. Nationwide, 33% said they use a guard animal to help protect their property.
• 40% said they don’t use any extra security measures to protect their property, compared to 29% across the country.

A Closer Look at Virginia’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.

• Broadway is the new safest city in Virginia, boasting a violent crime rate of 0.3 incidents per 1,000 and a property crime rate of 2.3—representing a total of 10 reported crimes.
• Eleven cities (55%) improved year over year, with Smithfield and Covington tying for most improved; each moved up 27 places from our 2019 ranking.
• Seven cities (35%) dropped in ranking this year.
• Two new cities joined the list this year: Buena Vista and Leesburg.
• All cities came in under both state (2.0) and national (3.7) violent crime rates, with the highest rate being 1.8 per 1,000 in both Orange and Leesburg.
• 55% of the cities limited violent crime to less than one incident per 1,000.
• Berryville had the lowest violent crime rate at 0.2, but an 8.3 property crime rate kept the city at number four (down from number two last year).
• 90% of the cities had property crime rates below the state’s rate of 16.7, and all cities beat the national average of 22.0.
• Broadway had the lowest property crime rate at 2.3, with just nine total incidents reported.
• Eight cities (40%) reported fewer than 100 total property crimes.

The 20 Safest Cities in Virginia

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.”