Wyoming’s 10 Safest Cities of 2020

The SafeWise Team is pleased to release the sixth annual Safest Cities report. Here are the 10 Safest Cities in Wyoming for 2020. See if your city made the list.

If you call Wyoming home, you live in one of the safest states in the country. That may be why Wyoming residents report lower levels of concern about safety than most of the nation. Those that live in one of the state’s safest cities have even less crime to worry about.

See if your hometown made Wyoming’s 10 safest cities of 2020. 

On our 2020 State of Safety survey, 39% of Wyoming respondents reported a high level of concern about their safety on a daily basis. That’s three points higher than was reported last year but still far below the national average of 46%.

Wyoming survey participants reported big jumps in personal experience with both violent and property crime. Yet crime rates fell across the state year over year. The violent crime rate in the Equality State is 2.1 incidents per 1,000 people. That’s a mild drop from last year’s rate of 2.3, and below the current national violent crime rate of 3.7. 

Property crime also saw a decrease this year, falling from a rate of 18.2 incidents per 1,000 to 17.9. That’s better than the national property crime rate of 22.0.

View the complete 2020 State of Safety report.

Violent Crime in Wyoming: Fear vs. Reality 

The violent crime that keeps most people up at night in Wyoming is falling victim to a physical assault by a stranger. They also think that’s the violent crime that’s most likely to actually happen. 

• 26% of survey respondents said they feel the highest concern about physical assault from a stranger, compared to 40% nationally. 
• 17% also thought physical assault by a stranger was the most likely violent crime that could happen to them. Nationwide, 26% felt the same. 
• Aggravated assault is the most common violent crime in Wyoming, accounting for 69% of all reported violent crime among the safest cities, and 71% statewide.
• Experience of violent crime increased from 4% to 13% year over year, putting Wyoming higher than the national average of 12%.

Property Crime in Wyoming: Fear vs. Reality

Someone breaking in while residents aren’t at home is the top property crime concern in Wyoming. Having a vehicle broken into is the crime that most survey participants felt was likely to actually happen. 

• 60% said the most concerning property crime is a break-in when no one’s home, versus 62% nationwide.
• Burglary made up just 13% of all property crime reported by the Wyoming’s safest cities and 15% of all property crime across the state.
• 25% thought the most likely property crime that could happen is a vehicle break-in. Nationally, 36% think a vehicle break-in is likely to occur. 
• Larceny-theft is the most common property crime in West Virginia, totalling 77% of the state’s property crimes and 83% of the property crimes reported by the safest cities.
• A mere 8% of Wyoming respondents said they use a security system to protect their home, compared to 24% across the country. 
• 48% use a dog or other guard animal for extra protection, compared to 33% nationwide.
• 20% said they don’t use any extra measure to protect or secure their property. The national average is 29%.

A Closer Look at Wyoming’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.

• Green River moved up seven spots to claim the number one position this year, despite not having the lowest violent crime rate (1.2). It was the city’s low property crime rate (8.5) that gave Green River the crown. 
• Four cities rose in ranking this year, with Rock Springs having the most meteoric rise, jumping nine spots to land at seven.
• Three cities dropped rank, but managed to stay in the top 10: Sheridan, Cody, and Gillette.
• One new city joined the list this year, Worland, which landed at number two with the lowest violent crime rate of the bunch (0.4).
• Laramie, the most populous city on the list, held on to its number three spot once again.
• 80% of the cities came in under Wyoming’s low violent crime rate of 2.1, but all beat the national rate of 3.7.
• 80% of the cities beat the state’s low 17.9 property crime rate, but all did better than the national rate of 22.0.
• Green River had the lowest property crime rate at 8.5 incidents per 1,000, but newcomer Worland had the fewest total property crimes reported, with 69.

The 10 Safest Cities in Wyoming

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 10?

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”