Personal finance company SmartAsset released a new study assessing the safest suburbs in the United States. After evaluating community safety across 360 different U.S. suburbs, four California locations ranked within the top 20, and all of them are in the Bay Area: Palo Alto at #11, Mountain View at #14, Pacifica at #15, and Livermore at #19.
Citing community safety as a key factor when looking to buy a home, SmartAsset presented the study as a tool for homebuyers. The study began with a list of 360 suburbs located within a 15 to 45-minute drive to major U.S cities and then ranked the suburbs according to rates of violent crime, property crime, motor vehicle deaths, drug overdose deaths, and excessive drinking. Suburbs in Maryland and Utah made the very top of the list.
Here’s an overview of the top 20:
- Lehi, UT
- Bethesda, MD
- Layton, UT
- Rockville, MD
- Great Falls, VA
- Dacula, GA
- Buford, GA
- Elmhurst, IL
- Oak Brook, IL
- Edgewater, NJ
- Palo Alto, CA
- Noblesville, IN
- Naperville, IL
- Mountain View, CA
- Pacifica, CA
- Fishers, IN
- Fort Lee, NJ
- Carmel, IN
- Livermore, CA
- Massapequa, NY
Of the best-ranked California suburbs, Palo Alto came out on top with violent crime at 0.00539 per capita, property crime at 0.03772 per capita, motor vehicle crash deaths at 6.92 per 100,000, and 14.9% of adults engaged in excessive drinking. In comparison, Pacifica had lower numbers for the first three aforementioned factors, but a higher rate of drinking.
In order to provide more helpful info to homebuyers, SmartAsset also included a few affordability statistics for the top-ranked cities. The most affordable and safest suburbs were Carmel and Fishers, both located in Indiana. In California, the most affordable suburb was Pacifica, with a median household income of $151,849 and a median monthly housing cost of $2,894. However, Palo Alto had a lower percentage of annual income going toward housing, at 18.4%.
You can read SmartAsset’s full study here.