Arkansas’s 20 Safest Cities of 2022

The SafeWise Team is pleased to release the eighth annual Safest Cities report.

See if your city made the full list.

Arkansas experienced an increase in violent crime over the 2022 reporting year, but the property crime rate fell over the same period. With higher-than-average crime rates in the state, Arkansans reported higher daily concern about safety than the average American.

• Violent crime rates
• Property crime rates
• Interesting findings
• The Safest Cities
• Methodology
• How to make a safe home anywhere
• How other cities compare
• How other states compare

Arkansas has the fourth-highest violent crime rate and the eighth-highest property crime rate in the US. Violent crime increased by 16% in The Natural State year over year, and property crime decreased by 8%.

According to our latest State of Safety survey, 54% of Arkansas respondents felt safe in The Natural State. This is one percentage point below the national average. 

Interestingly, 54% of Arkansans also said they feel concerned about safety on a daily basis, which is higher than the national average of 47%.

Residents of Arkansas are also the sixth-most likely to think that crime is on the rise, with 76% of Arkansans sharing this perspective. However, Arkansas residents feel less concerned about violent crime, property crime, package theft, and gun violence than their neighbors in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.

We asked Arkansas residents which crimes they worry may happen to them. See if Arkansans are concerned about the same crime issues as the rest of the country. 

View the complete 2022 State of Safety report.

Most Arkansas residents think crime is increasing, which matches the 16% increase in the violent crime rate the FBI reported. That said, Arkansans we surveyed claimed they personally experienced 50% less violent crime compared to the previous year. 

• Arkansas residents reported more experience with violent crime than with property crime. Only New York residents did the same. 
• 10% of Arkansans reported experiencing violent crime this reporting year, which is on par with the national average. 
• Violent crime accounts for 20% of all crime in Arkansas, which is 3 percentage points higher than the national average.
• Aggravated assault represents 80% of all violent crime in Arkansas, which is 10 percentage points higher than the national average and the fourth-highest in the nation.
• Arkansas experienced a 62% decrease in mass shootings compared to the previous reporting year. 
• In the 2022 reporting year, 26 people were injured and 3 people were killed in 5 mass shooting events in Arkansas.
• 40% of Arkansans use some form of personal protection (US 34%), with pocket knives leading the way at 14%.
• 43% of Arkansas residents say their personal safety has been affected by the pandemic, which is 1 percentage point lower than the national average.

Property crime rates dropped in Arkansas year over year. This aligns with our State of Safety survey, which showed property crime experiences dropping by 26 percentage points year over year, landing at 8% (US 18%). 

• Burglary accounts for 20% of all property crime in Arkansas, which is 4 percentage points above the national average. 
• 69% of Arkansans use some form of property protection, which is 9 percentage points higher than the national average. 
• Guard dogs are the most popular form of property protection among Arkansans at 31%, but they’re closely followed by firearms at 29%.
• 29% of Arkansas residents say the security of their property has been affected by the pandemic, which matches the national sentiment.

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.

• 88 cities in Arkansas met the criteria for ranking.
• Greenbrier tops the list for the first time after debuting on our list last year at number 2.
• 11 (55%) Arkansas cities moved up in rank compared to the previous year, 7 moved down, and 2 (Gentry and Lowell) hold the same position as last year.
• Greenbrier, Pottsville, Piggott, Haskell, and Vilonia reported 5 or fewer violent crimes. 
• 90% of Arkansas’s safest cities reported 0 murders. Maumelle reported 1 murder and Cherokee Village reported 2. 
• Property crime rates decreased year over year in 12 of Arkansas’s 20 safest cities while violent crime rates decreased in 9. Greenbrier, Greenwood, Pottsville, Piggott, Haskell, and Maumelle saw decreases in both categories.
• Bentonville—the most populous of Arkansas’s safest cities—accounts for 33% of the property crime and 30% of the violent crime reported by all 20 cities.

VC=Violent crime
PC=Property crime

Learn how we identified the safest cities on our methodology page.

Whether your city made our list or not, we encourage everyone to be proactive about home security. One of the best ways to stop a burglary before it happens is to add a home security system.

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We calculated crime rates for every city in the state that met our population threshold, based on the state’s median population as calculated using FBI data. To request a report of the remaining cities in your state, sign up for our email newsletter (we make it easy in a quick form below!) or email info@safewise.com with the subject line: Safest Cities Full Report.

NOTE: If you don’t see your city on the list, it means that it was below the population threshold or didn’t submit a complete crime report to the FBI in 2020.

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

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FBI: Crime Data Explorer, Accessed March 8, 2022.

US Census Bureau, "Data Explorer," Accessed January 24, 2022.

Best Places, “Find a Place Search Tool,” Accessed January 24, 2022.

SafeWise, “2021 State of Safety survey,” Accessed March 8, 2022.

Gun Violence Archive, “Past Summary Ledgers,” Accessed January 24, 2022.

Gun Violence Archive, “General Methodology,” Accessed March 8, 2022.

Melody Hicks, Ben Stickle, Joshua Harms, American Journal of Criminal Justice, “Assessing the Fear of Package Theft,” January 04, 2021. Accessed March 8, 2022.

For definitions and more on data sources, see our methodology page.