West Virginia’s 20 Safest Cities of 2020

The SafeWise Team is pleased to release the sixth annual Safest Cities report. Here are the 5 Safest Cities in West Virginia for 2020. See if your city made the list.

West Virginia residents worry less about safety than the majority of the country. That could be due to impressively low crime rates—especially if you live in one of the state’s five safest cities. 

See which cities are West Virginia’s five safest of 2020. 

Despite increases in personal reports of experience with crime, general concern about safety in West Virginia went down this year, according to the 2020 State of Safety study.

View the complete 2020 State of Safety report.

In the Mountain State, 44% of State of Safety respondents said they feel high or very high concern about safety every day. That’s two percentage points below the national average of 46%, which was also the statewide level of concern last year. 

The violent crime rate in West Virginia is 2.9 incidents per 1,000, compared to 3.7 across the country. 8% of survey respondents said they had a personal experience with violent crime in the past 12 months. That’s six percentage points higher than last year, but four points below the national average of 12%.

Experience with property crime increased by 12 percentage points this year, which puts West Virginia just over the national average of 26%. The state’s property crime rate of 14.9 is well below the nationwide rate of 22.0 incidents per 1,000. It’s also a decent decrease from last year, when West Virginia’s property crime rate was 17.9.

Violent Crime in West Virginia: Fear vs. Reality

West Virginians expressed the highest levels of concern about being robbed on the street. It’s also the violent crime they think is most likely to happen. 

• 41% named being robbed on the street as the most concerning violent crime, compared to 38% nationwide. 
• 32% said they think they’re most likely to fall victim to being robbed on the street. Nationally, 27% agreed.
• There were six counts of robbery reported by the safest cities, making up 11% of all violent crime those cities reported. Statewide, robbery also made up 11% of all violent crime incidents reported.
• Aggravated assault is the most prevalent violent crime in West Virginia, accounting for 75% of the state’s violent crime and 73% of violent crime among the safest cities.

Property Crime in West Virginia: Fear vs. Reality 

Someone breaking in while the residents are away from home is the top property crime concern in West Virginia. It’s also the property crime that survey respondents felt was most likely to occur.   

• 70% said a break-in when no one’s home is the property crime they fear the most, versus 62% across the US. 
• 50% of survey participants feel that a break-in while they’re away from home is the most likely property crime that could happen. That’s 12 percentage points higher than the national average.  
• Burglary accounted for just 14% of all property crime reported by the safest cities and 20% of all property crime in West Virginia.
• The most common property crime in West Virginia was larceny-theft, totalling 71% of the state’s property crime incidents and 81% of the property crimes reported by the safest cities.
• Despite such high concern about break-ins, only 19% of West Virginia respondents have a home security system. The national average is 24%.  
• 39% said they use a firearm to protect their property, which is 11 percentage points higher than the national average. 
• Only 22% use no form of protection or security on their property. That’s seven points lower than the nationwide average of 29%.

A Closer Look at West 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.

• Weirton moved up 11 spaces to become West Virginia’s safest city. 
• Bridgeport had the biggest ascension, rising 20 places to be number five. 
• No cities on this year’s list dropped in rank from the previous year—they all climbed higher. 
• Ranson is brand new to the list this year, debuting at number three.
• All cities came in under both state (2.9) and national (3.7) violent crime rates, with the highest rate being 2.8 per 1,000 in the newbie Ranson.
• Every city reported 15 or fewer total violent crimes, but there were still two murders counted among the state’s five safest cities.
• Surprisingly, only three of the safest cities did better than the state’s low property crime rate of 14.9, and only four out five beat the national rate of 22.0.
• Two cities, Charles Town and Ranson, reported fewer than 40 total property crimes, the next closest city was Oak Hill with 147.

The 5 Safest Cities in West 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 5?

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”