2 HV Communities Among America's 100 Safest: Analysis

OSSINING, NY — A new analysis has ranked the 100 safest cities in America and two communities in the Hudson Valley made the list. Plus neighboring Ridgefield took the top spot nationally as the safest town.

NeighborhoodScout, a web-based platform from Location, Inc., compared the safety of "cities" with at least 25,000 people based on the total number of property and violent crimes per 1,000 residents. (Their definition of city encompasses what New Yorkers would call cities, towns and villages.)

Their analysis, released on Monday, found that 37 percent of the nation’s safest cities reside in just two states: Massachusetts and Illinois, which had 19 and 18 cities on the list, respectively.

Ridgefield was the safest city in the country, with a crime index of 95 out of 100, with 100 being the safest.

The following Hudson Valley towns made the top 100 nationally:

• No. 20: Harrison
• No. 29: Ossining

Harrison's crime index, according to NeighborhoodScout, was 84. Ossining's crime index was 80.

Andrew Schiller, CEO and founder of Location, Inc. and NeighborhoodScout, said bedroom communities within large metro areas and near major urban centers such as Boston, Chicago, and New York continue to make their list.

"These safe communities within the urban/suburban fabric of America's largest metropolitan areas often combine access to high-paying jobs in the urban center, decent schools, and a high quality of life,” Schiller said in a release. “This access to opportunity increases home values, with the result often being lower crime."
The safest cities rankings list differs from NeighborhoodScout's list of the most dangerous cities because it comprises both violent and property crimes. The group says the general public tends to equate a “dangerous" city with "violent" crime and a "safe" city with safety from both property crime and violence.

NeighborhoodScout says its analysis includes all reported crimes from all 18,000 local law enforcement agencies across the country.

Patch reporter Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

PHOTO: Early spring along the Hudson/ Lanning Taliaferro

» Find Hudson Valley Patches' Facebook Pages
» Find Your Patch and more news of the day, including our most-read stories