Carmel ranked No. 1 Safest Midsize City in America
The City of Carmel has been ranked the No. 1 Safest Midsize City in America by online business research and reporting site, AdvisorSmith, a New York based financial services company, which established its ranking on a variety of factors using federal crime data. Carmel was the only city in Indiana to make the list. Of the top 10 midsize cities, five were in California and two were in Texas. Indiana, North Carolina and New Jersey each had one city.
The study was conducted based upon data provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Reporting Data Set. Carmel earned the number one spot due to its low incidence of violent and property crimes – only 2.1 per thousand people for violent crimes and 5.9 per thousand for property crimes per year of publication.
“We work hard to make sure our police department is provided with the tools it needs to keep our community safe,” said Mayor Jim Brainard. “We know that safe neighborhoods is always among the top five reasons people choose to live and remain in Carmel and ensuring that comfort level is part of our overall economic development and quality of life strategy.”
According to the researchers, for consumers and businesses alike, crime and a lack of safety in a neighborhood can exact a significant toll on daily lives. For the consumer, this can equate to decreases in home values, increases in insurance costs, and more. For businesses, crimes such as shoplifting, robbery, vandalism, theft, and fraud, end up costing U.S. businesses billions of dollars each year. As crime rates increase, so do costs for insurance coverage, including commercial property, commercial crime, and cyber insurance.
In this study, AdvisorSmith used the most recently available data from the FBI, released in September 2021, which includes crimes committed during the calendar year 2020. Crimes considered in this report include violent crimes such as robbery, assault, rape, and murder, as well as property crimes including burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft. From that research, they created a proprietary crime score, which weights different types of crimes based upon the severity of the crime, with violent crimes weighted more highly.
Cities were divided into categories based on their population and towns with populations under 10,000 were excluded. Cities with populations of less than 100,000 were labeled as small cities, while cities with populations of 100,000 to 300,000 were considered midsize cities. Any cities with populations over 300,000 were labeled large cities. This study included 2,837 small cities, 219 midsize cities and 59 large cities, for a total of 3,115 cities.
