Safest Cities in Virginia

Using data published by the FBI, AdvisorSmith examined reported crime rates in cities across Virginia to find the safest small, midsize, and large cities in the state. To find these cities, we created a proprietary crime score for each city that is based upon the levels of reported crimes, taking into account population levels and the mix of crimes committed in each city. Crimes were weighted by their gravity, with more serious crimes such as murder being weighted more heavily than property crimes such as burglary. We found that the average crime score for Virginia was 45, with cities’ scores ranging from 7 to 140.

We included 142 Virginia cities in this report, including 103 small cities, 26 midsize cities, and 13 large cities. We divided cities into sizes based upon population, with small cities having under 10,000 residents, midsize cities having between 10,000 and 50,000 residents, and large cities having over 50,000 residents. Within each size group, we ranked the cities by their crime score to find the safest cities of each size.

Safest Large Cities in Virginia

Among large cities with over 50,000 residents in Virginia, the average crime score was 68. The crime scores calculated for large cities ranged from a low of 31 to a high of 139.

The safest large city in Virginia was Leesburg, the county seat of Loudoun County. The city is notable for being the temporary seat of government for the United States during the War of 1812. The city is growing quickly and contains many historical sites. Leesburg has also been gradually integrated into the greater Washington, D.C. area as that metropolis has grown.

Portsmouth ranked as the large city in the state with the highest levels of reported crime. Portsmouth is a city in the southeast part of the state just across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. Shipbuilding has been an important part of the history of the city of Portsmouth, from its founding in the 1700s. Today, the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Naval Medical Center Portsmouth are historic and active U.S. Navy facilities in the city.

Rank	City	Violent Crimes per 1,000 Residents	Property Crimes per 1,000 Residents	Crime Score
1	Leesburg	10.1	10.3	31.0
2	Alexandria	10.8	15.5	35.7
3	Virginia Beach	11.8	17.6	36.8
4	Harrisonburg	11.0	17.0	40.6
5	Suffolk	20.7	24.8	61.8
6	Hampton	16.2	30.0	62.7
7	Lynchburg	21.5	21.8	64.3
8	Chesapeake	19.1	22.7	66.6
9	Richmond	18.8	35.0	78.6
10	Newport News	24.1	25.3	81.1
11	Norfolk	19.4	34.6	84.1
12	Roanoke	38.0	44.1	103.7
13	Portsmouth	31.4	58.6	139.6

Safest Midsize Cities in Virginia

The average crime score for midsize cities in Virginia was 49, for cities with between 10,000 and 50,000 residents. Crime scores for midsize cities ranged from as low as 13 to as high as 97.

The safest midsize city in Virginia was Purcellville. This rapidly growing midsize city is located in the Loudoun Valley and is host to the liberal arts college Patrick Henry College. The city is located only 50 miles to the west of the nation’s capital. Purcellville is also known for its Victorian-era architecture built at the turn of the century.

Rank	City	Violent Crimes per 1,000 Residents	Property Crimes per 1,000 Residents	Crime Score
1	Purcellville	4.3	3.9	12.9
2	Blacksburg	5.9	6.1	19.9
3	Vienna	5.3	9.8	21.3
4	Manassas Park	7.5	8.7	25.2
5	Falls Church	7.1	15.3	26.1
6	Fairfax City	9.1	14.0	27.3
7	Poquoson	11.0	7.5	29.9
8	Williamsburg	11.7	13.2	33.0
9	Herndon	9.7	10.9	34.7
10	Radford	11.3	9.7	35.8
11	Salem	10.9	21.8	37.8
12	Christiansburg	12.5	20.5	41.1
13	Culpeper	18.0	18.0	45.3
14	Manassas	17.7	14.9	46.9
15	Staunton	16.0	19.0	48.1
16	Waynesboro	14.8	20.9	50.7
17	Charlottesville	15.6	23.2	57.6
18	Front Royal	27.1	19.1	57.6
19	Hopewell	22.2	21.4	61.7
20	Winchester	24.8	23.3	68.0
21	Bristol	27.6	23.9	71.0
22	Martinsville	19.5	27.0	75.8
23	Fredericksburg	28.3	28.2	77.4
24	Danville	26.2	36.5	78.5
25	Colonial Heights	18.0	40.5	83.2
26	Petersburg	22.2	33.1	96.6

Safest Small Cities in Virginia

The safest small city in Virginia was Broadway, a city located in Rockingham County in the northern portion of the state near West Virginia. The city is located in the Shenandoah Valley and is served by Interstate 81.

In the following table, we list small cities in Virginia ranked by their crime scores. Additionally, each city’s rate of violent and property crimes per capita are also listed. The average crime score among small cities in the state was 41, with a range of 7 at the lowest and 110 at the highest for small cities with under 10,000 population.

Rank	City	Violent Crimes per 1,000 Residents	Property Crimes per 1,000 Residents	Crime Score
1	Broadway	1.3	5.6	6.9
2	Bridgewater	2.2	5.0	7.1
3	Rural Retreat	0.0	8.3	8.3
4	Chatham	1.0	9.4	10.5
5	Glasgow	0.0	10.8	10.8
6	Chilhowie	0.0	12.8	12.8
7	Glade Spring	0.0	13.2	13.2
8	Middletown	7.4	6.1	13.5
9	Lexington	4.5	3.8	13.8
10	Grottoes	1.1	9.6	14.2
11	Warsaw	5.4	9.0	14.3
12	Buena Vista	3.9	3.2	15.4
13	Middleburg	7.9	7.9	15.9
14	Dayton	5.7	6.5	16.3
15	Shenandoah	3.0	15.0	18.0
16	Berryville	8.5	8.3	18.0
17	Haymarket	11.2	6.9	18.1
18	Gretna	3.3	10.0	18.9
19	Parksley	0.0	19.8	19.8
20	Stanley	8.1	7.2	19.8
21	Occoquan	7.2	3.6	19.8
22	Timberville	4.8	6.3	20.0
23	Narrows	3.9	14.0	20.6
24	New Market	7.1	10.6	20.7
25	Pound	12.9	7.8	20.7
26	West Point	7.1	8.3	21.2
27	Dumfries	6.4	8.5	23.0
28	Dublin	2.3	12.7	23.8
29	Amherst	4.3	8.6	24.5
30	Windsor	8.0	8.3	25.0
31	Clintwood	4.2	21.2	25.4
32	Stephens City	2.9	20.3	26.1
33	Weber City	3.7	16.2	26.2
34	Independence	13.4	13.4	26.8
35	Kilmarnock	2.0	20.7	27.6
36	Strasburg	8.1	9.9	28.1
37	Pembroke	4.9	17.2	28.3
38	Saltville	7.0	11.2	28.6
39	Honaker	5.4	14.4	28.9
40	Abingdon	9.5	14.9	29.2
41	Lawrenceville	3.5	17.3	29.3
42	Big Stone Gap	8.9	16.2	31.3
43	Brookneal	8.5	10.9	31.6
44	Pennington Gap	5.1	24.2	32.4
45	Chase City	6.3	15.8	33.5
46	Warrenton	12.1	10.9	33.7
47	Waverly	7.2	14.4	33.9
48	Pearisburg	3.4	25.4	34.1
49	Coeburn	8.1	21.0	34.5
50	Mount Jackson	9.6	11.9	34.6
51	Wise	9.6	19.8	35.9
52	Cedar Bluff	8.5	12.0	35.9
53	Louisa	7.6	25.6	36.0
54	Victoria	16.8	5.6	36.5
55	Elkton	4.9	26.7	37.2
56	Chincoteague	10.1	17.4	37.3
57	Halifax	9.0	19.7	37.6
58	Smithfield	11.0	17.7	39.1
59	Wytheville	6.6	27.0	39.3
60	Clifton Forge	14.7	12.4	39.8
61	Tazewell	11.8	14.0	40.6
62	Haysi	5.1	35.6	40.7
63	Gate City	12.9	14.2	42.6
64	Clarksville	8.5	10.3	42.7
65	Hurt	9.8	11.0	42.8
66	Jonesville	8.6	21.5	43.0
67	Hillsville	7.6	20.4	44.3
68	Covington	16.0	21.6	44.5
69	Colonial Beach	13.9	13.4	44.8
70	Orange	12.4	15.9	45.4
71	Woodstock	10.1	23.7	46.3
72	Onancock	11.6	19.8	47.1
73	Luray	9.1	28.0	49.2
74	Blackstone	12.9	27.9	49.6
75	St. Paul	12.9	30.5	51.4
76	Ashland	19.6	20.0	52.0
77	Rich Creek	23.5	22.0	52.9
78	Gordonsville	18.2	12.8	53.8
79	South Hill	14.3	31.1	54.7
80	Crewe	14.0	20.0	54.9
81	Altavista	10.6	39.8	55.6
82	Cape Charles	10.0	6.0	55.9
83	Norton	12.9	34.0	56.6
84	Grundy	20.0	30.7	57.3
85	Farmville	11.9	22.9	58.7
86	Vinton	20.5	23.9	61.5
87	Richlands	22.9	19.2	63.7
88	Bedford	25.0	30.1	63.8
89	Lebanon	9.5	40.7	69.6
90	Pulaski	17.5	32.0	75.5
91	Damascus	5.1	71.2	76.2
92	Appalachia	15.5	33.9	76.3
93	Franklin	30.0	37.0	79.6
94	Marion	16.6	40.1	80.3
95	Bluefield	13.9	56.8	82.5
96	Emporia	29.2	39.0	83.4
97	Onley	16.0	56.0	85.3
98	South Boston	21.4	44.6	87.1
99	Exmore	19.1	26.3	87.7
100	Tappahannock	18.4	29.7	89.5
101	Galax	26.1	40.3	97.0
102	Burkeville	0.0	104.5	104.5
103	Rocky Mount	22.8	56.5	109.6

Methodology

AdvisorSmith calculated a proprietary crime score for cities in the state of Virginia to determine the safest cities in the state. To create this study, we relied upon data published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics dataset. This data includes statistics on violent and property crimes reported by law enforcement agencies and cities around the country. Crimes reported in this dataset include murder, rape, robbery, assault, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and burglary.

We based our analysis on data from the calendar year 2019, which was the report’s most recent update. Cities reported data on a monthly basis, but not all cities reported a full 12 months of data. We excluded from our analysis any city which reported less than 2 months of data. For cities reporting fewer than 12 months of data, we adjusted their crime levels to reflect a proportionate amount of crime for a calendar year for comparability purposes.

To create our crime score for each Virginia city, we applied a weighted multiplier to each type of crime to reflect the severity of the crime. For example, murder received a higher multiplier than larceny. We added the weighted multiple of crimes for each city and then compared this weighted multiple to the city’s population in order to create a crime score for each city.

We divided Virginia cities into three sizes depending upon the population size of each city. Small cities were those with under 10,000 residents. Cities with between 10,000 and 50,000 residents were labeled midsize cities, and cities with over 50,000 residents were labeled large cities. We ranked each city by its crime score within its population grouping to determine the safest small, midsize, and large cities in Virginia.

Sources

Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting, Return A, 2019