Ohio’s 20 Safest Cities of 2022

The SafeWise Team is pleased to release the eighth annual Safest Cities report.

See if your city made the full list.

In our latest State of Safety survey, 53% of respondents in Ohio reported daily levels of high concern for their safety. While this is lower than last year's survey (56%), it's still six percentage points higher than the national average of 47%.

This is surprising since the state falls below national averages for both violent crime and property crime. Property crime dropped year over year, and violent crime rose by just 0.1 incident per 1,000 residents. Ohio's 20 safest cities saw only a fraction of the state rates for both categories of crime.

• Violent crime rates
• Property crime rates
• Interesting findings
• The Safest Cities
• Methodology
• How to make a safe home anywhere
• How other cities compare
• How other states compare

Although Ohio's violent crime rate is relatively low compared to most states, it had a small increase from 3.0 crimes per 1,000 people to 3.1 this year. The state's property crime rate followed national downward trends by moving from 20.6 per 1,000 people to 18.5.

The state also saw the sixth-highest number of mass shooting incidents in 2021. We’ll cover how Ohio residents feel about gun violence below.

According to our latest State of Safety report, less residents worried about their safety on a daily basis than last year. The state remains above the national average for daily concerns (in terms of violent crime, property crime, package theft, and gun violence) even though more than half reported feeling safe in their state.

Like most Americans, Ohioans' biggest crime worry is package theft, and 65% worry about the pandemic on a daily basis (US 62%).

Ohio survey respondents’ experiences with gun violence are very high (17%)—the third highest in the US. This might help explain high levels of daily concern for safety despite lower general crime rates.

We asked Ohio residents which crimes they worry may happen to them. See if Ohio residents are concerned about the same crime issues as the rest of the country.

View the complete 2022 State of Safety report.

People in Ohio tend to feel slightly less safe in their home state than the average American. This could involve any number of factors like above-average experience with violent crime and gun violence or possibly the state's small increase in reports of violent crime. Ohioans are also generally more likely to say the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their personal safety. 

• 52% of people in Ohio reported feeling safe in their state compared to 55% of Americans.
• 16% of Ohio respondents reported having a personal experience with violent crime in the 12 months prior to the survey (US 10%).
• Murder is the least-common violent crime in The Buckeye State, making up 2% of violent crimes (US 2%).
• Rape makes up 14% of violent crimes in Ohio (US 10%). 
• 40% of survey participants report using some form of personal protection like pepper spray—higher than the US average (34%).
• 54% of Ohioans say their personal safety has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to 44% of Americans. This nears the high end of the scale, which tops out at 61% with Florida.

• 67% of Ohio residents named gun violence as a top safety concern—well above the US average of 53%.
• 17% of survey respondents reported experiencing gun violence in the 12 months prior to the survey—1.3 times higher than last year.
• There were 33 mass shootings in Ohio. This number increases each year, climbing by 32% this year.

There was a slight decrease in personal encounters with property crime in Ohio this year, which fits with a similar decline in crime reports from law enforcement agencies. More Ohioans use a form of property protection than a typical American, with notable ownership rates for both security cameras and security systems.

• 22% of Ohio residents told us they personally experienced property crime this year, down from last year (27%).
• Burglary accounts for 17% of all property crimes in The Buckeye State (US 16%).
• 20% of respondents reported experiencing package theft—matching the US average.
• 73% of people in Ohio use some form of property protection. This is substantially higher than the 60% national average.
• The top forms of property protection in Ohio this year were security cameras and security systems, with 37% of survey respondents claiming to use one or the other. These adoption rates are higher than the national averages of 28% for security cameras and 25% for security systems.
• 40% of respondents say the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the security of their property—this is higher than the US average of 29%.

For the purposes of this report, the terms “dangerous” and “safest” refer explicitly to crime rates as calculated from FBI crime data—no other characterization of any community is implied or intended.

• 15 of the safest cities (75%) reported fewer than 100 total property crimes.
• 2 cities, Clearcreek Township and Hudson, reported 0 motor vehicle thefts. This flies against nationwide pandemic crime trends, which included rising motor vehicle thefts.
• The total number of motor vehicle thefts in the safest cities increased by 38% year over year.
• Even though the statewide violent crime rates rose, the safest cities collectively reported fewer overall violent crime incidents year over year (less than 100 this year).
• 0 murders were reported among the top 20 safest cities.
• 3 cities—Olmsted Township, Sagamore Hills, and Powell—reported 0 violent crimes.
• Every safest city reported fewer than 1 violent crime per 1,000 residents.
• Broadview Heights (number 1 on the list) reported 0 murders, rapes, and robberies.

Learn how we identified the safest cities on our methodology page.

Whether your city made our list or not, we encourage everyone to be proactive about home security. One of the best ways to stop a burglary before it happens is to add a home security system.

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We calculated crime rates for every city in the state that met our population threshold, based on the state’s median population as calculated using FBI data. To request a report of the remaining cities in your state, sign up for our email newsletter (we make it easy in a quick form below!) or email info@safewise.com with the subject line: Safest Cities Full Report.

NOTE: If you don’t see your city on the list, it means that it was below the population threshold or didn’t submit a complete crime report to the FBI in 2020.

Click on the state image or dropdown menu below to check out the safest cities for each state.

• Best Home Security Systems
• Best Home Security Cameras
• Best Video Doorbell Cameras
• Burglary Stats & Facts
• The Most Burglarized City in Every State

FBI: Crime Data Explorer, Accessed March 8, 2022.

US Census Bureau, "Data Explorer," Accessed January 24, 2022.

Best Places, “Find a Place Search Tool,” Accessed January 24, 2022.

SafeWise, “2021 State of Safety survey,” Accessed March 8, 2022.

Gun Violence Archive, “Past Summary Ledgers,” Accessed January 24, 2022.

Gun Violence Archive, “General Methodology,” Accessed March 8, 2022.

Melody Hicks, Ben Stickle, Joshua Harms, American Journal of Criminal Justice, “Assessing the Fear of Package Theft,” January 04, 2021. Accessed March 8, 2022.

For definitions and more on data sources, see our methodology page.