The U.S. News Best Places Data Drill Down, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that sheds light on multiple data points to help readers make the most informed decision when choosing where to live in the United States. Visit our 2016 Best Places to Live ranking to see which of the 100 most populous metro areas made it to the top of the list based on good value, desirability, a strong job market and a high quality of life.
When it comes to protecting your home from criminals, it’s a little bit about where you live and a lot about how well-prepared you are. Like any crime, home burglaries can occur just about anywhere, and they’re more likely when a criminal spots an easy target.
In fact, many burglaries are crimes of opportunity rather than the result of planning, according to a 2012 report from the University of North Carolina–Charlotte Department of Criminal Justice & Criminology. Homeowners make it easy for criminals to get in by failing to lock doors and windows or leaving curtains open with a clear view of easily accessible valuables and proof that no one’s around.
[Read: 4 Steps to Take Immediately After Your Home Is Burglarized.]
But location does play a part in how much time, effort and resources are needed to secure your home to keep criminals from gaining access.
“There are certain places that are just flat [out] more dangerous and have more thefts and burglaries than any other place,” says Chris McGoey, a crime prevention expert based in Los Angeles.
U.S. News analyzed the FBI’s data on reported burglaries in the 100 largest metro regions in the U.S. during 2014, the most recent complete data set available. After calculating each metro area’s burglary rate per 100,000 people, the resulting places with the lowest burglary rates included a mix of major cities and sprawling rural areas.
For the major cities that made the list, larger populations help dilute crime rates, but there’s something to be said for the population density that deters criminals for fear of being caught. “Seeing and being seen is the key to crime prevention,” says Paul Ciepiela, president of the Maryland Crime Prevention Association and a detective for Baltimore County Police.
To avoid becoming a victim of a home burglary, McGoey suggests assessing where you live — city, neighborhood and even where your home is located on the block — and securing the entry points into your house appropriately for the amount of crime that happens there. You may only need a strike plate installed on the door and diligence when it comes to locking doors and windows, or the situation could require bars on any windows accessible at ground level. An alarm system can also be effective, McGoey notes, as long as the homeowner consistently and properly uses it.
The best way to figure out how a burglar could get in: “Burglarize yourself,” McGoey says, noting that acting out how a person could get in and easily find items of value helps you identify weaknesses in your home and better enforce entry points so you can protect what’s hard to replace.
Here are the top 10 metro areas with the lowest burglary rates in 2014.
The home of the University of Wisconsin–Madison had just 374.6 reported burglaries per 100,000 people in 2014. In addition, Madison has long maintained low violent crimes rates over the past 15 years and beyond, with a steadily declining rate of property crime as well.
Puerto Rico’s capital saw a significant drop in crime in 2014 with increased federal funding and assistance to curb crime rates. With just 371.2 burglaries per 100,000 people in 2014, San Juan has the ninth-lowest burglary rate out of the 100 largest metro regions in the country.
[See: 10 Ways Millennials Are Changing Homebuying.]
Not the only Pennsylvania metro area on the list, Pittsburgh had just 367.2 burglaries per 100,000 people in 2014. The Steel City’s overall property crime rate in 2014 was also lower than similar-sized metro areas Charlotte, North Carolina, Salt Lake City and Portland, Oregon.
Settled in California wine country, Santa Rosa maintains low property crime rates, with just 364.5 per 100,000 burglaries in 2014. However, the metro area’s violent crime rates are slightly higher, on par with the national average in 2014 at 363.9 reported incidents per 100,000 people in 2014.
Boise’s low homicide and other property crime rates make it the safest metro area in the country per the U.S. News 2016 Best Places to Live ranking. And the city had just 355.5 burglaries per 100,000 people in 2014. With consistently low rates of both property and violent crime from year to year, many Boise residents don’t always feel the need to lock their doors at night.
Despite being a metro area with more than 4.5 million residents, Boston maintains a low average crime rate, with 349.9 burglaries per 100,000 people in 2014. Like any major city, Boston has pockets that see higher crime, but its dense population and quiet suburbs lead to a low rate of home break-ins.
A metro area with a significant portion of rural communities, the Lancaster metro area sees low crime rates overall, with 329.3 burglaries per 100,000 people in 2014. However, the city of Lancaster is often noted as one of the most dangerous small cities in the country: For a city of less than 60,000 people, there were 403 violent crimes and nearly 2,300 property crimes in 2014.
3. Washington, District of Columbia
The District of Columbia has come a long way over the past few decades in reducing crime, and in 2014 there were 291.8 burglaries per 100,000 people. While crimes of opportunity occur throughout the metro area, crime is now mostly limited to concentrated pockets within the District.
One of the safest metro areas in the country, El Paso had just 280.7 burglaries per 100,000 people in 2014, combined with low rates for other property crime and homicide as well. The West Texas city is particularly recognized for its ability to maintain relatively low crime rates because just over the Mexican border, Ciudad Juarez is known for gang activity and violent crime.
[See: The 30 Most Fun Places to Live in the U.S.]
It may come as a surprise to some that the city that inspired the “Law & Order” franchise has the lowest burglary rate in the country, but New York’s sheer size and variation in burrows and neighborhoods combines for just 250.82 burglaries per 100,000 people. It’s also possible that the dense population raises residents’ awareness of the possibility of a break-in, leaving less room for criminals to find an opportunity to strike.
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The 10 Places With the Lowest Burglary Rates in the U.S. originally appeared on usnews.com
