Oklahoma’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 2022 State of Safety survey, 43% of people in Oklahoma expressed a daily level of high concern for their personal safety—lower than the national average of 47%. Survey respondents also reported fewer personal experiences with crime and violence compared to last year and came in below the US average for each category.

There's a disconnect between the self-reported crime experiences and Oklahoma's crime rates (sourced from FBI), which are higher than the national average. Oklahoma's crime rates in the last year reflect recent national trends with an increase in violent crime and a decrease in property crime. Still, crime rates in all 20 of Oklahoma's safest cities came in below state and national averages.

• 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

Oklahoma's violent crime rate rose this year, increasing from 4.4 incidents per 1,000 people to 4.6. Despite the increase, the overall violent crime rate stayed below 2020 levels. On the other hand, the property crime rate continued to drop this year from 28.7 per 1,000 to 27.1.

Within the West South Central region, Oklahoma has the second-lowest violent crime rate and the second-highest property crime rate. Like last year, only Texas had a lower violent crime rate. In contrast, only Louisiana has a higher property crime rate.

Oklahoma's crime rates remain above the national average this year. Among all 50 states, Oklahoma has the tenth-highest violent crime rate and the sixth-highest property crime rate.

Compared to last year, Oklahomans were only slightly more worried about their personal safety on a daily basis. Still, survey respondents reported significantly fewer personal experiences with violent crime (60% lower) and property crime (down 42%) 12 months prior to the State of Safety survey. Encounters with gun violence were also lower by 33%.

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

View the complete 2022 State of Safety report.

More than half of Oklahoma residents feel safe in their home state, but not nearly as much as the average American. The Sooner State had more violent crimes compared to last year, and respondents reported fewer experiences with violent crime and gun violence. Oklahomans were less likely than any state to say the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their personal safety.

• 52% of people in Oklahoma reported feeling safe in their state compared to 55% of Americans.
• 4% of Oklahoma residents reported having a personal experience with violent crime in the past 12 months—2.5 times fewer than last year (10%).
• Violent crime rates rose 5.6% since last year, which is just above the 4.9% national increase.
• Murder is less common in Oklahoma than any other violent crime, making up about 2% of all violent crime (US 2%) though the state's 20 safest cities averaged less than 1% with a single murder last year.
• Rape accounts for 11% of violent crimes in Oklahoma (US 10%). The 20 safest cities have a higher number of instances at 14%.
• 24% of survey participants report using some form of personal protection like pepper spray—far below the US average (34%).
• 25% of Oklahomans say their personal safety has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic compared to 44% of Americans—no other state reported lower numbers.

• 42% of Oklahoma residents named gun violence as a top safety concern—well below the US average of 53%.
• 27% of Oklahomans worry about police violence daily—below the US average of 40%.
• 60% of people in Oklahoma reported having confidence in law enforcement—slightly higher than the US average of 56%.
• 35% of Oklahomans surveyed are most worried about a gun violence incident happening to them (US 38%).
• There were 2 mass shootings in Oklahoma in 2021—the same number as in 2020.

While people in Oklahoma claimed fewer experiences with property crime year over year, the FBI-reported property crime rate only decreased slightly. Burglaries seem to be more prevalent in Oklahoma than in most other states, and residents rely more on dogs and firearms to protect their property than the average American.

• The property crime rate in Oklahoma went down for the second consecutive year, but the total number of property crime incidents reported in by safest cities went up by 256 incidents.
• 15% of Oklahomans reported personal experiences with property crime this year. This is nearly half as many as last year (26%).
• Burglary accounts for 23% of all property crimes in The Sooner State (the 20 safest cities average 21%), which is 1.4 times higher than the national rate of 16%.
• 18% of participants reported experiencing package theft, putting Oklahoma just below the US average of 20%.
• 58% of Oklahoma residents use some form of property protection, just below the 62% national average.
• The top forms of property protection in Oklahoma this survey year were dogs and firearms with 29% of survey respondents using one or the other. This is higher than the national average of 26% for each type.
• 20% of respondents say the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the security of their property—this is lower 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.

• 144 cities in Oklahoma met our criteria to be considered for ranking this year.
• Elgin is Oklahoma's safest city for the fourth year in a row.
• 65% of the safest cities increased in rank since last year with the biggest jumps coming from Cache (up 80 spots) and Wynnewood (up 71 spots), landing at 19 and 6 respectively.
• 3 cities made their top 20 debut this year—Granite, Burns Flat, and Arkoma.
• 90% of the safest cities have populations under 10,000—only Bixby (population 28,840) and Jenks (population 24,639) are larger.
• The violent crime rate in the safest cities is 0.9 incidents per 1,000 people—80% lower than the state rate (4.6).
• The top 2 cities—Elgin and Hinton—each reported 0 violent crimes in the last year. Eleventh-placed Walters also had 0 violent crime reports.
• 11 cities reported fewer than 1 violent crime per 1,000 residents.
• The property crime rate in the safest cities is 9.6 incidents per 1,000 people—65% lower than the state rate (27.1).
• 5 cities (25%) reported property crime incidents in single digits last year.
• 11 of the safest cities (55%) reported fewer than 10 property crimes per 1,000 residents last year with Burns Flat having the lowest property crime rate overall (1.1).

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.

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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.