Wyoming’s 5 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, Wyomingites feel safer in their state than any other group of Americans. Wyoming comes in just below the average for daily concern about crime and safety. The state (and its safest cities) also boast consistently low crime rates.

Wyoming's violent crime rate went up this year from 2.3 incidents per 1,000 people to 2.4. This is up over 2% from last year and continues a three-year trend of increases. Property crime also rose this year, moving up from 16.1 incidents per 1,000 people to 18.6—increasing over 15%. It's one of only 10 states that saw increases in both crime categories.

Within the Mountain region, Wyoming continues to have the lowest rate of violent crimes, just ahead of Idaho (2.5). The Cowboy State has the third-lowest property crime rate in the region behind Idaho (10.5) and Arizona (14.4). One of the eight states in this region didn't meet state reporting requirements this year: New Mexico.

On a national level, Wyoming sees lower rates of violent and property crime than the national average. Among the 41 states that met reporting requirements this year, Wyoming has the seventh-lowest violent crime rate and the twenty-first-lowest property crime rate.

Reports of personal experience with violent crime in The Cowboy State grew from 6% to 13% year over year. Still, Wyoming residents reported fewer experiences than the national average (US 15%). The state is also less worried about and had fewer experiences with gun violence than most states.

• Violent crime in Wyoming has increased by 14% over the past 3 years.
• Wyoming's violent crime rate is 39% lower than the national level.
• Murder and robbery account for fewer violent crimes in Wyoming than national levels. The safest cities had 6 total reports of murder and robbery this year.
• Rape makes up a larger portion of violent crimes in Wyoming (29%) than in most of the country (US 11%)—only two states report a greater percentage of rapes: New Hampshire (35%) and Maine (33%). Rape reports in Wyoming’s safest cities are slightly below the state percentage at 26%.
• Aggravated assaults are the most common violent crime in Wyoming, making up a smaller proportion of all violent crimes (63%) that it does nationwide (US 72%).

• 43% of survey participants use some kind of personal protection like a stun gun or pepper spray, compared to 39% nationally.
• The most popular types of personal protection used by Wyoming respondents this survey year were concealed firearms and pocket knives at 53% each—and higher than their respective national averages.
• 35% say their personal safety has been affected by the pandemic (US 44%).

• 27% said gun violence is the safety concern they worry about most on a daily basis (US 47%).
• The number of respondents with a personal gun violence experience (9%) increased by 7 percentage points since the previous survey year (US 12%).
• There were 0 mass shooting incidents in Wyoming in the last 4 years.
• For every police officer killed or injured by a gun in Wyoming in 2022, 7 suspects experienced the same.
• There were 2 self-defense shooting incidents in Wyoming in 2022—the same as the previous year.

Property crime in Wyoming rose for the second consecutive year—it increased by over 15% this year. Despite low concern, Wyoming uses more security measures than most other states.

• Wyoming’s property crime rate is 4% lower than the national rate of 19.3.
• 76% of Wyoming residents reported feeling safe in their home state (US 50%)—more than any other state.
• Larceny-theft is the most prevalent property crime, accounting for 71% of all crime statewide.
• Nationally, larceny-theft accounts for 72% of property crime, and in Wyoming’s safest cities it makes up 79%.
• Burglaries make up 15% of all property crime in Wyoming, 1 percentage point above the national proportion. In the safest cities, burglaries make up 14% of all property crime.

• 79% of Wyoming residents use some form of property protection (US 76%) with firearms on top at 47%.
• 31% of Wyomingites said they added or increased security measures in the 12 months prior to the survey (US 35%).
• 18% say the security of their property has been affected by the pandemic (US 28%).

• 32% of survey respondents in Wyoming reported experiencing package theft in the 12 months prior to the survey (US 34%).
• 44% of participants expressed a high level of concern about package theft (US 53%).
• The preferred methods of package protection in Wyoming are verified delivery (25%) and video doorbells (21%).

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.

• 11 cities met criteria to be considered for ranking.
• Douglas is Wyoming's safest city after moving up from number 2 last year.
• Cody, Torrington, and Rock Springs are new to the top 5 this year.
• Torrington saw the biggest improvement in rank this year, moving up 9 spots to number 4.
• Rock Springs (population 22,937) and Sheridan (population 18,157) are the most populous cities on the list and the only ones with populations over 10,000 residents.

• The violent crime rate in the safest cities is 1.6 incidents per 1,000 people—32% lower than the state rate (2.4) and 60% lower than the national rate (4.0).
• Sheridan reported the lowest violent crime rate in the state at 0.8 incidents per 1,000. It's the only city with no reported murders, rapes, and robberies.
• 4 of the safest cities reported 16 or fewer violent crimes this year.

• The property crime rate in the safest cities is 11.8 incidents per 1,000 people—37% lower than the state rate (18.6) and 39% lower than the national rate (19.3).
• Douglas (9.4) and Torrington (9.6) reported the lowest property crime rates in the state.
• None of the safest cities reported fewer than 60 property crime incidents.

Click on the state image or dropdown menu below to check out the safest cities for each state.

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• 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.