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The State of Safety in America 2023

Security Expert, Safety & Tech Reporter

March 24, 2023

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Every year we talk to at least 5,000 people to see how safe they feel living in the US. Find out which states worry the most about safety, which ones worry least, and where people have experienced the most run-ins with violent and property crime.

Our full 2023 State of Safety report will be published in June. For now, we've added some of the most compelling findings as we continue to analyze the data.

Image: SafeWise, 2022 State of Safety report

Crime rates and safety concerns during the pandemic

UPDATE: March 24, 2023

A pandemic-focused survey update of approximately 5,000 Americans was fielded in February and March 2022. We captured how safe Americans felt throughout 2021—the second full year of living with COVID-19. Our analysis of the most recent FBI crime data (crimes reported in 2021) was completed this month.

We're studying these two data sets to paint a fuller picture of how safe people felt across the US in 2021, compared to documented crime trends. See if US residents's perceptions of safety match reality in our early findings below.

Concern and worry rose despite steady or falling crime rates

2021 carried over a lot of the safety and crime concerns that hit us in 2020 with our first nationwide pandemic lockdown in nearly a century. The US also continued to be a hotbed of social and political issues throughout 2021. Here’s a rundown of how people’s worries about safety and crime matched what was really happening during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although we were surprised to see a negligible rise in overall concern in 2020, the US rate of high daily concern about safety jumped three points in 2021—from 47% to 50%. Following suit, the percentage of Americans who feel safe in their state fell five points year over year, from 55% in 2020 to 50% in 2021.

The violent crime rate, which rose in 2020 for the first time in years, held steady in 2021—remaining at 4.0 incidents reported per 1,000 people. But the downward trend in property crime continued, falling from 19.6 incidents per 1,000 people in 2020 to 19.3 in 2021.

How did crime rates change in 2021 in the states where people feel least safe?

State	% feel safe	VC rate	YoY change	PC rate	YoY change
US average	50	4.0	-0-	19.3	-0.3
Illinois	28	4.3*	N/A	15.6*	N/A
New York	30	3.6*	N/A	14.1*	N/A
New Mexico	31	7.8	-0.5	28.4	-2.7
Louisiana	32	6.6	-0.2	26.7	-2.1
Mississippi	34	2.4	-0.5	17.9	-3.1
Oregon	35	3.6	+0.7	28.2	+1.6
Maryland	36	4.0*	N/A	16.1*	N/A
Minnesota	38	3.2	-+0.4	21.2	-0.6
Alabama	40	6.0	+1.5	25.9	+4.5
Washington	42	3.4	+0.5	31.3	+4.0

*Due to incomplete reporting, we were unable to calculate crime rates for 2021. Rates provided are for crimes reported in 2020.

How did crime rates change in 2021 in the states where people feel safest?

State	% feel safe	VC rate	YoY change	PC rate	YoY change
US average	50	4.0	-0-	19.3	-0.6
Wyoming	76	2.4	+0.1	18.6	+2.5
North Dakota	75	2.6	-0.7	21.9	-0.7
Utah	72	2.6	-0-	21.3	-3.3
Vermont	71	1.9	+0.2	13.4	+1.2
New Hampshire	70	1.4	-0.1	10.6	-0.4
Maine	65	1.1	-0-	11.7	+0.1
Montana	65	4.7	-0-	21.5	+0.3
South Dakota	65	3.9	-1.1	18.9	-0.7
Idaho	64	2.5	+0.1	10.5	-0.6
Nebraska	64	2.5	-0.8	15.5	-3.6

The remainder of this article was originally published September 27, 2021

What is the State of Safety survey?

The State of Safety is a nationwide survey that dives into America’s top safety concerns. Over the past three years, we’ve surveyed more than 15,000 Americans—at least 300 from every state—to find out about their perceptions and attitudes about safety and crime.

We use this data to spot trends in how people perceive safety and danger, as well as respondents’ experiences with different types of crimes. We also compare perceptions of safety and danger with the reality of crime statistics in our Safest Cities reports.

Based on participants’ answers and data trends, we’ve adapted the survey each year to respond to current events and areas of growing concern.

In 2020, we added questions about mass shootings.
In 2020, we also narrowed our focus to the most impactful and measurable issues: property and violent crime.
We expanded our questions to address gun violence as a whole this year, not just mass shootings.

This year, we also added questions about package theft, police violence, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Find out more about the State of Safety study on our methodology page.

How much do people worry about gun violence?

In light of recent headlines, we released a report on how concerned Americans are about gun violence.

States where people feel the most and least safe

On top of asking people how much they worry about safety every day, we wanted to find out if people feel safe in their state.

Image: SafeWise, 2022 State of Safety report

A closer look at how Americans feel about crime and safety

We were surprised to see an 8% drop in the overall level of daily concern about safety over the past three years—even though nearly 7 in 10 Americans think crime is increasing.

With the global pandemic and widespread civil unrest across the country in 2020, we expected to see general concern on the rise, but it rose by only one percentage point year over year.

Fewer than 1 in 10 Americans think crime is decreasing although it’s been on a downward trend for the past 2 decades.
New York is by far the most concerned state, while Vermont, Wyoming, and North Dakota are typically the least concerned states.
Package theft is the most worrisome crime issue for Americans, with nearly 5 in 10 respondents worried that it will happen to them.
Property crime is the second-most worrisome crime issue, with 4 in 10 Americans worried that it will happen to them.

Even though more than half of all Americans are concerned about gun violence daily, only 38% are worried that it will happen to them.
Although the national average for daily concern increased by only 1 point year over year, half of the most-worried states saw concern rise by 10% or more between 2019 and 2021.
Women, younger Americans, and those with kids at home express higher levels of crime concern than other demographic groups.
Americans aged 55 or older have strikingly fewer personal experiences with all types of crime compared to every other demographic factor.

How safety concerns have changed over the past 3 years

Image: SafeWise, 2022 State of Safety report

Regional concern trends

The Mid-Atlantic region had the highest level of daily concern of any region—59% this year. It also had the biggest jump in concern, rising 8% since 2019 (the same as the US average).
The West North Central region had the lowest level of daily concern of any region—39% for each of the past 3 years.
Over the past 3 years, levels of concern didn’t fluctuate more than 8% in any region.
Two regions remained steady in concern over time: East South Central and West North Central.
Regions in the southern US generally have higher levels of concern about crime and safety

Image: SafeWise, 2022 State of Safety report

Most-concerned state trends

Among the most-concerned states, safety concern fluctuations ranged from 5% to 16% with the exception of Alabama, where concern stayed steady over time.
Among the most-concerned states, half of the group surpassed the US average safety concern fluctuation of 8% over 3 years.
Virginia saw the biggest swing in concern levels year over year, dropping 23% between 2019 and 2020, and jumping 43% between 2020 and 2021.

Image: SafeWise, 2022 State of Safety report

Least-concerned state trends

Among the least-concerned states, levels of concern fluctuated broadly, ranging from a 14% drop in Kansas to a 5% increase in Alaska.
More than half of the least-concerned states fell under the US average percentage of fluctuation.
Vermont’s low level of daily concern about safety is 62% below the national average. Vermont has the fourth-lowest violent crime rate in the country, and the eighth-lowest property crime rate.

Violent crime: Fear vs. reality

Despite the traumatic fallout of violent crimes, Americans are less worried about a violent crime actually happening to them. Americans also experience far fewer violent crimes than they do property crimes. In 2019, violent crimes made up 15% of all reported crime in the US.

Image: SafeWise, 2022 State of Safety report

“The amount of crime in our area, both violent and nonviolent, has risen considerably in the last few years, so I worry about being a victim of violent crime.” —Louisiana respondent

Violent crime rose by 1.9% year over year in Louisiana, while property crime fell by 3.7%.

Image: SafeWise, 2022 State of Safety report

Image: SafeWise, 2022 State of Safety report

Gun violence

Gun violence concerns and incidents jumped in 2020

Sadly, this is one area where perception matched reality. More people than ever told us they were afraid of gun violence—even hearing gunshots on a regular basis—in 2020.

It looks like those fears weren't unfounded. According to the FBI's most recent crime data (released September 10, 2021), homicides increased by 30% year over year and an overwhelming 77% of all 2020 murders were committed with some kind of firearm.

After an overwhelming number of respondents from our 2019 survey expressed concern about mass shootings, we added that category to the State of Safety survey in 2020. Last year, we received another avalanche of answers indicating concern over gun violence in general.

For the 2021 State of Safety survey, we asked Americans about their concerns and experience with gun violence.

“I tend to hear gunshot sounds where I live. And the police come and go a lot.” —Arizona respondent

Mass shootings in AZ decreased by 33% year over year.

States with the most and least gun violence experience (US average 10%)

Interesting findings

For the first time, respondents mentioned hearing gunshots where they live—from Alaska to Connecticut.
Despite stay-at-home orders, mass shootings jumped 47% year over year.
Mention of riots and protests came up in at least 460 answers to the question, “what keeps you up at night?”. Gun-related terms came up over 130 times.

Image: SafeWise, 2022 State of Safety report

Property crime: Fear vs. reality

For the third consecutive year, property crime is still the crime Americans feel is most likely to happen to them, and they’re not wrong. In 2019, a property crime happened every 4.6 seconds in the US. But the property crime rate fell 4% year over year—and dipped below seven million total crimes for the first time in at least 20 years.

Image: SafeWise, 2022 State of Safety report

“We’ve been victimized by theft recently a few times. They were minor incidents, but it’s alarming how prevalent it’s becoming.” —Oklahoma respondent

Oklahoma’s property crime rate decreased by 0.7% year over year.

Image: SafeWise, 2022 State of Safety report

Image: SafeWise, 2022 State of Safety report

“I have a dog and a gun.” —Alaska respondent

Alaska reported the most experience with property crime in the past 12 months. Firearms are the most-used property protection in Alaska, followed by guard animals.

“The only [security concern] would be someone breaking into my house, but I have a large German Shepherd, so that’s unlikely.” —Arkansas respondent

Arkansas reported the least experience with property crime in the past 12 months. Guard animals are the most-used property protection in Arkansas, followed by firearms.

Image: SafeWise, 2022 State of Safety report

Interesting findings

Security cameras and security systems are the only security measures that are growing in popularity, with both guard animals and firearms seeing a drop year over year.
Although general concern rose minimally year over year (2%) and most Americans think crime is on the rise, use of property protection measures dropped by 6% this year.
More states (both high and low experience) saw reported experience with property crime increase between 2019 and 2021 (9 of the 12 listed—75%).

What safety concerns keep Americans up at night?

Rank	Issue	% that named that issue
1	Property crime	20%
2	Violent crime	18%
3	COVID-19 pandemic	17%
4	Personal/family security	6%
5	Cybersecurity	5%
6	Government	4%
7	Financial security	3%
8	Environmental calamities	2%
9	Law enforcement	2%
–	Nothing/Don't know	32%

“Someone breaking into my car or house while I’m away or sleeping worries me. “ —Texas respondent

Property crime in Texas rose 2% year over year and burglaries make up 16% of all property crime in the state.

A closer look at sleep-stealing worries

We asked Americans to tell us what specific worries keep them up at night. Here are some of the takeaways:

Property crimes (especially break-ins) continue to be the most worrisome overall.
People are more worried about car theft and break-ins this year—a crime that saw increases in many areas during pandemic lockdowns.
Digital security (identity theft, hacking, and data privacy) continues to be top of mind for many Americans.
More people are concerned about things that may lead to crime this year—unemployment, drugs, homelessness, job and housing insecurity, and civil unrest were mentioned often.
Natural disasters and extreme weather came up more often this year, especially wildfires and flooding.
Perceived neighborhood safety (or lack thereof) is a strong trend that impacts higher levels of concern or a complete lack of concern.

“[I worry about] being alone at night without my partner, not having security cameras . . . coming home late at night and possibly having an intruder in my home.” —New Mexico respondent

New Mexico worries less than most of America, but it's tied with Louisiana for the state where people feel the least safe overall.

Does worry lead to taking action?

Even though Americans continue to think crime is on the rise, that isn’t enough to increase security measures.

Only 1 in 5 Americans has increased security measures in the past year.
1 in 3 Americans uses some method of personal protection like pepper spray.
Overall, insurance is by far the most widely used form of protection that Americans use, with only 14% saying they use none.
38% of Americans don’t do anything to provide extra security to their property.

Get all the details about your state

Download the full national report by hitting the button below. To request a copy of your state's report email rebecca@safewise.com.

Download the full report

How much do people worry about crime in your state?

State	% concerned daily	% feel safe in state	% think crime is increasing	State VC rate/1,000	State PC rate/1,000
US average	47%	55%	66%	3.7	21.1
Alabama	56%	44%	82%	5.1	26.7
Alaska	34%	52%	63%	8.7	29.1
Arizona	49%	54%	62%	4.6	24.4
Arkansas	54%	54%	76%	5.9	28.6
California	56%	40%	70%	4.4	23.3
Colorado	40%	54%	65%	3.8	25.9
Connecticut	48%	55%	61%	1.8	14.3
Delaware	50%	55%	74%	4.2	22.5
Florida	59%	49%	69%	3.8	21.5
Georgia	56%	50%	54%	3.4	23.8
Hawaii	59%	53%	65%	2.9	28.4
Idaho	33%	74%	58%	2.2	12.2
Illinois	64%	42%	69%	4.1	18.5
Indiana	44%	48%	68%	3.7	19.7
Iowa	45%	64%	62%	2.7	17.3
Kansas	35%	58%	64%	4.1	23.1
Kentucky	53%	53%	78%	2.2	19.0
Louisiana	50%	34%	71%	5.5	31.6
Maine	34%	77%	63%	1.2	12.5
Maryland	64%	46%	67%	4.5	19.5
Massachusetts	47%	65%	46%	3.3	11.8
Michigan	46%	50%	63%	4.4	15.9
Minnesota	33%	48%	68%	2.4	20.8
Mississippi	45%	51%	75%	2.8	23.8
Missouri	46%	46%	64%	5.0	26.4
Montana	31%	66%	63%	4.1	21.9
Nebraska	50%	71%	77%	3.0	20.4
Nevada	61%	39%	72%	4.9	23.2
New Hampshire	42%	80%	62%	1.5	12.1
New Jersey	58%	52%	70%	2.1	13.4
New Mexico	41%	34%	76%	8.3	31.1
New York	70%	40%	78%	3.6	13.7
North Carolina	56%	55%	60%	3.7	23.6
North Dakota	30%	74%	79%	2.9	19.8
Ohio	53%	52%	71%	2.9	20.6
Oklahoma	43%	52%	65%	4.3	28.5
Oregon	39%	40%	55%	2.8	27.3
Pennsylvania	49%	55%	67%	3.1	14.0
Rhode Island	53%	60%	69%	2.2	15.4
South Carolina	42%	46%	64%	5.1	29.4
South Dakota	34%	73%	67%	4.0	17.7
Tennessee	52%	55%	68%	6.0	26.5
Texas	62%	56%	60%	4.2	23.9
Utah	36%	66%	54%	2.4	21.7
Vermont	18%	78%	56%	2.0	14.2
Virginia	57%	53%	55%	2.1	16.4
Washington	45%	39%	68%	2.9	26.8
West Virginia	43%	52%	73%	3.2	15.8
Wisconsin	47%	48%	76%	2.9	14.7
Wyoming	26%	86%	60%	2.2	15.7