Rye Brook ranked 6th safest ‘city’ in New York State by SafeWise

SafeWise released its fifth annual Safest Cities report on Tuesday, Mar. 19. The Village of Rye Brook came in at #6 on the list and is in the top 20 for the first time.

With a population of 9,608 and a median income of $131,818, Rye Brook had a violent crime rate of zero per 1,000 people and a property crime rate of 9.58 per 1,000 in 2017.

Lewisboro town, with a population of 12,823, was #1 on the list for the third year in a row with zero violent crimes and .08 property crimes per 1,000.

Other Westchester communities in the top 20 included Pelham village at #7 with a population of 7,037, violent crimes at zero and property crimes at 9.81 per 1,000, Harrison town at #8 with a population of 28,480 with violent crimes at 0.04 and property crimes at 4.07 per 1,000, Mamaroneck town at #10 with a population of 12,218, violent crimes at .08 and property crimes at 4.91 per 1,000, Pleasantville village at #13 with violent crimes at 0.14 and property crimes at 6.97 per 1,000 and Tuckahoe village at #16 with a population of 6,636, violent crimes at 0.15 and property crimes at 5.12 per 1,000.

Despite the remarkably low violent crime rates among the 20 safest municipalities in New York, the state is on par with nationwide averages. New York reported 4.46 violent crimes per 1,000 people, just about matching the national rate of 4.49. But every municipality on the list had three or fewer violent crimes in 2017.

Statewide, New Yorkers do even better when it comes to property crime. The state’s property crime rate is 16.13, more than 10 points below the national rate of 27.11 incidents per 1,000 people. In fact, each municipality that made the list reported fewer than 10 property crimes per 1,000 people—with 60% experiencing fewer than five.

Port Chester village, with a population of 29,616, was #123 on SafeWise’s list out of a total 183 municipalities, having 1.65 violent crimes and 10.87 property crimes per 1,000 in 2017.

Check out the resources and full report at www.safewise.com/blog/safest-cities-new-york/

To identify the 20 Safest Cities in New York, SafeWise reviewed the most recent FBI crime report statistics from 2017 and census population data. Municipalities that fell below identified population thresholds or that failed to submit a complete crime report to the FBI were excluded from the ranking system.

Their evaluation was based on the number of reported violent crimes (aggravated assault, murder, rape, and robbery) in each municipality. If there was a tie, they also factored in the number of property crimes (burglary, arson, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft). To level the playing field, they calculated the rate of crimes per 1,000 people in each municipality. This makes it easier to directly compare the likelihood of these crimes occurring in municipalities with vastly different populations.

Interesting findings

Seven municipalities reported zero counts of violent crime—among the most of any state (and the same number as last year).

There were no counts of murder among the safest “cities,” and only two incidents of rape, six of robbery, and 11 of aggravated assault, collectively.

Digital security is the number one concern for New Yorkers, with State of Safety respondents naming someone having access to or sharing sensitive information as their top digital security worry.

Thirty percent more people in New York experienced a violent crime in the past year than the national average, which is 10%.

New York expressed higher concern about every violent crime category than the national average—but the state overall does slightly better than average at keeping violent crime low.

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