Florida’s 50 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.

Florida is among the most concerned states in the country, but its crime rates come in below nationwide rates for both violent and property crime. And with only 49% of Floridians telling us they feel safe in The Sunshine State, we hope the low reports of crime in Florida’s 50 safest cities help bolster that sense of safety.

• 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

Violent crime held steady year over year at 3.8 incidents per 1,000 people, putting Florida below the national violent crime rate of 4.0 per 1,000. But the Sunshine State did one better when it comes to property crime—reporting 17.7 incidents per 1,000 versus 19.6 nationwide.

Florida’s lower crime rates don’t line up with the state’s high level of anxiety about crime and safety. Despite nearly one in two survey respondents reporting high concern about property crime happening to them, incidence of property crime actually dropped by 17% year over year.

Daily levels of concern have risen each survey year since 2019. Currently, 59% of Floridians feel concerned every day for their safety, ranking the state at number six in the nation for this criteria.

Despite rising levels of concern, we saw a 10% drop in Floridians who’ve reported experiencing property crime in the 12 months prior to our most recent survey. But of those same respondents, those who experienced gun violence in the year prior to the survey more than doubled.

Only 49% said they feel safe in their state, and 69% think crime is increasing across the board. Nationwide, 55% of people feel safe calling their state home and 69% think crime is on the rise.

Florida was the fourth in the nation for highest levels of concern over package theft and COVID-19—with three in four people feeling high concern about the pandemic every day (US 62%). Package theft affected 22% of our respondents (US 20%), which explains why it’s the top crime concern in Florida.

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

View the complete 2022 State of Safety report.

Bucking the nationwide rise in violent crime, Florida’s violent crime rate held steady for the third year. Despite stable violent crime rates, Floridians continue to report increasing levels of concern.

• After 2 years hovering just above the national violent crime rate, this year Florida came in under the national rate with 3.8 incidents per 1,000, compared to 4.0 across the US.
• Aggravated assault was the most common violent crime recorded in Florida with over 1,500 cases in the safest cities and over 60,000 statewide.
• Proportionately, Florida reported fewer rapes and robberies than the US averages. In Florida, rape accounts for 9% of all violent crimes (US 10%) and robberies make up 16% (US 19%).
• 40% of Florida residents use some form of personal protection, with pepper spray named by 23% of respondents—making it the most popular form of personal protection in The Sunshine State.
• 61% of Floridians say their personal safety has been affected by the pandemic (US 44%).

• 71% of Floridians said that gun violence is their top daily safety concern (US 53%), and 48% worry about being personally involved in a gun violence incident (US 38%).
• Mass shooting incidents fell by nearly 12% between 2020 and 2021, making Florida one of only 15 states that saw a drop year over year.
• There were 30 mass shooting incidents recorded in Florida in 2021, versus 34 in 2020—but Florida still reported the eighth-highest number of incidents in the country.
• Concealed carry firearms are the second-most popular form of personal protection, carried by 16% of survey respondents that use personal safety devices.
• Firearms are the fourth choice for property protection in Florida, with 19% of respondents using them compared to 33% that use security systems and cameras to protect their property.
• 13% of survey respondents reported a personal experience with gun violence in the 12 months prior to being surveyed, compared to 8% nationwide.

Property crime is less of a concern for Floridians than other issues, but it doesn’t keep them from taking action to protect their property. Florida shows a higher number of residents who use proactive measures like security cameras and security systems.

• Property crime is a top concern for 47% of the Floridians we talked to.
• 16% of respondents experienced property crime in the year prior to the survey—38% less than the previous year and 2 points below the national average.
• Florida reported fewer property crimes per capita than both the South Atlantic region and the US.
• 22% of Florida residents in our survey said they experienced package theft in the last year—2 points higher than the national average.
• Nearly 7 in 10 Floridians use some kind of property protection. Security cameras and security systems are the most popular in The Sunshine State.
• 44% of Florida residents say their property’s security has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (US 29%).

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.

• 143 cities met criteria to be considered for ranking.
• Niceville jumped 14 spots to land at number 1 (how could it not with a name like that?).
• Marco Island dropped to number 5 after 2 years in the top spot.
• The average violent crime rate among the safest cities is 1.3 incidents per 1,000 people—well under state, regional, and US rates.
• 58% of the safest cities reported 0 murders.
• 3 cities reported fewer than 10 total violent crimes—Niceville, Parkland, and Key Biscayne.
• 96% of the safest cities have property crime rates below state, regional, and US rates. The exceptions are Hialeah Gardens, which matches the US rate of 19.6 and Doral with 18.1 incidents per 1,000.
• 5 of Florida’s safest cities have more than 100,000 people, including Port St. Lucie at the number 12 spot. The average population among Florida’s safest cities is 48,798.

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.

• Best Home Security Systems
• Best Home Security Cameras
• Best Video Doorbell Cameras
• Burglary Stats & Facts
• The Most Burglarized City in Every State

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.