Safest & Most Dangerous Metro Areas for Trick or Treating

Want a Treat instead of a Trick on Halloween this year? The team at YourLocalSecurity.com (YLS) did some research to determine which US metro areas are the safest to take your costume-cloaked kiddos around the neighborhood with their pumpkin pails in 2018.

The team analyzed four data points—percent of trick-or-treaters, pedestrian car deaths, violent crime rates, and the ratio of sex offenders—to determine the most and least safe cities for your trick-or-treating clan. So before heading out with the fam at dusk this Halloween, check out the report below to see how your state’s metro areas faired.

 

10 Safest Metro Areas

1. Lincoln, NE
2. Mankato-North Mankato, MN
3. Provo-Orem, UT
4. Logan, UT
5. Idaho Falls, ID
6. Ogden-Clearfield, UT
7. Kennewick-Richland, WA
8. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
9. Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA
10. Grand Island, NE

 

10 Most Dangerous Metro Areas

1. The Villages, FL
2. Punta Gorda, FL
3. Homosassa Springs, FL
4. St. Louis, MO-IL
5. Sebring, FL
6. Santa Fe, NM
7. Farmington, NM
8. Sebastian-Vero Beach, FL
9. Pine Bluff, AR
10. Gainesville, FL

 

Data Highlights

 

• • Nebraska and Utah were among the safest states for trick-or-treating, with each state having 3 metro areas in the Top 10.

• • Provo-Orem, UT has the highest percentage of kids at 19.2%.

• • Nebraska has the lowest rate of pedestrian deaths at 0.63 per 100,000 residents.

• • Three of the four Nebraska metro areas fall in the top 10, and Lincoln, NE had the lowest rate of sex offenders with 1 sex offender for every 34,009 residents.

• • New York-Newark-Jersey City has the lowest violent crime per capita was with 0.01 violent crimes per 100,000 people. It ranked 100 overall.

• • Florida has 6 metro areas in the bottom 10, including all 3 at the very bottom. In fact, The Villages, FL has the lowest percentage of kids at 4% and Homosassa Springs, FL had the highest rate of sex offenders with 1 sex offender for every 33 residents.

• • St. Louis, MO-IL has the highest violent crime rate at 19.13 per 100,000 residents.

• • New Mexico has the highest rate of pedestrian deaths at 3.51 per 100,000 residents.

 

Each State’s Safest Metro Area

State Name	State’s Safest Metro Area for Trick-or-Treating	Metro Area’s Ranking (out of 383)
Alaska	Anchorage	115
Alabama	Daphne-Fairhope-Foley	328
Arkansas	Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway	81
Arizona	Tucson	263
California	Visalia-Porterville	71
Colorado	Greeley	46
Connecticut	Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk	85
Delaware	Dover	340
Florida	Port St. Lucie	233
Georgia	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell	193
Hawaii	Urban Honolulu	243
Iowa	Des Moines-West Des Moines	13
Idaho	Idaho Falls	5
Illinois	Peoria	56
Indiana	Fort Wayne	36
Kansas	Wichita	51
Kentucky	Elizabethtown-Fort Knox	142
Louisiana	Lafayette	299
Massachusetts	Springfield	97
Maryland	California-Lexington Park	117
Maine	Lewiston-Auburn	103
Michigan	Grand Rapids-Wyoming	94
Minnesota	Mankato-North Mankato	2
Missouri	Springfield	130
Mississippi	Hattiesburg	181
Montana	Billings	55
North Carolina	Raleigh	157
North Dakota	Bismarck	47
Nebraska	Lincoln	1
New Hampshire	Manchester-Nashua	90
New Jersey	Vineland-Bridgeton	184
New Mexico	Las Cruces	349
Nevada	Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise	308
New York	Syracuse	144
Ohio	Columbus	40
Oklahoma	Tulsa	191
Oregon	Salem	91
Pennsylvania	Lancaster	62
Rhode Island	Providence-Warwick	96
South Carolina	Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Beaufort	302
South Dakota	Sioux Falls	11
Tennessee	Knoxville	131
Texas	Laredo	67
Utah	Provo-Orem	3
Virginia	Roanoke	132
Vermont	Burlington-South Burlington	44
Washington	Kennewick-Richland	7
Wisconsin	Appleton	21
West Virginia	Charleston	170
Wyoming	Casper	25

 

Methodology

The YLS team looked at all 383 US metro areas, analyzing four main points of data to determine trick or treat safety: percent of trick-or-treaters, pedestrian car deaths, violent crime rates, and the ratio of sex offenders. All data points were weighted equally. Definitions are as follows:

• Percent of Trick-or-Treaters: The percentage of the population between ages 5 and 14, according to the 2016 American Community Survey 1 Year Estimates. Given that there may be safety in numbers when trick-or-treating, a higher percentage of children in a metro area contributed to a better score.
• Pedestrian Car Deaths: The number of pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 people by state, according to the NHTSA 2016 data. An average of all states included in the metro area is used when the metro area crosses state lines. A higher rate contributed to a lower score.
• Violent Crime: The number of violent crime occurrences per 100,000 people by metro area, according to the 2016 FBI crime report. When data was unavailable for a metro area, the crime rate for the principal city in the area was used. A higher rate contributed to a lower score.
• Sex Offenders: The number ratio of registered sex offenders to non-sex offenders, according to state and local agencies. The principal city in each metro area was used. A higher ratio of sex offenders contributed to a lower score.

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