Jackson ranks high on safest cities list

A recent survey by SafeWise, a home security website, recently ranked Jackson as the 30th safest city in Missouri.

SafeWise calculated its rankings using 2019 crime data from the FBI. The "safest" cities were those that reported the lowest crime rates.

Out of the 142 cities listed, Cape Girardeau ranked 91.

Charleston pulled just ahead of Cape Girardeau with a ranking of 90. Another Southeast Missouri city, Dexter, ranked 57. The list reported Scott City had 2.4 incidents of violent crime per 1,000 people, making it the 55th safest city in Missouri. Perryville came in at 77.

Jackson reported 1.1 incidents of violent crime per 1,000 residents.

Overall, Missouri had the eighth-highest violent crime rate and the 12th-highest property crime rate out of all 50 states. However, the state's violent crime rate decreased from 5 incidents per 1,000 people in 2020 to 4.9 in 2021.

Safewise surveyed residents in Missouri, and found that 46% of those who responded felt safe in their state compared to 55% of Americans.

Also higher than the national average, 64% of survey respondents in Missouri said gun violence was a top safety concern. Nationwide, only 53% of respondents cited gun violence as a top concern.

Missouri's safest city is Clever in Christian County. With a population of 2,787, the city reported the lowest violent crime rate in the state with 0.7 incidents per 1,000 people.

Last year, the ironically-named Battlefield, Missouri was named the safest city. The city fell six spots this year.

Missouri's safest cities ranking along with other states' can be viewed on SafeWise's website.