Safest cities in Tennessee (Memphis, Knoxville: 2015, crime rate, homes)

[TheShadow]

Oak Ridge is Tennessee's safest city, report says

[geranium]

If they're using 2015 crime data, why does it say 'The 20 Safest Cities in Tennessee—2017'?

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by geranium

If they're using 2015 crime data, why does it say 'The 20 Safest Cities in Tennessee—2017'?

Because it was written by a security system company.

[TheShadow]

Usually they don't have data any more recent than that for these types of articles, but 2016 data would probably be more current. Still, I think it shows that not all of Tennessee is a crime and drug haven as some posters would have people believe. State wide averages include the high numbers from Memphis, etc, and that skews the numbers for the whole state. I live in Loudon area, so I was very happy to see Loudon in the top 10 for lowest crime rate in the state.

Actually the article was written by a newspaper staff writer, but based on a report by Safewise, a website that reviews, rates, and compares security systems, not a security system company.

[geranium]

It's reassuring to know that the drug issues of surrounding counties didn't spread to Oak Ridge in the intervening two years.

[jjbradleynyc]

It lists a couple of Kingsport suburbs, Mt Carmel and Church Hill.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by geranium

If they're using 2015 crime data, why does it say 'The 20 Safest Cities in Tennessee—2017'?

Originally Posted by TheShadow

Usually they don't have data any more recent than that for these types of articles, but 2016 data would probably be more current. Still, I think it shows that not all of Tennessee is a crime and drug haven as some posters would have people believe. State wide averages include the high numbers from Memphis, etc, and that skews the numbers for the whole state. I live in Loudon area, so I was very happy to see Loudon in the top 10 for lowest crime rate in the state.

Actually the article was written by a newspaper staff writer, but based on a report by Safewise, a website that reviews, rates, and compares security systems, not a security system company.

I was addressing geranium's question. Read it again.

The Knoxville Sentinel's headline does not say "The 20 Safest Cities in Tennessee."

Geranium was referring to the post on the security website.

For what it's worth, Safewise is a third-party aggregator that sells security systems. The author of that post is their marketer.

I agree that large cities will skew the crime data, but ranking states, on the whole, is a ridiculous endeavor, anyway.

By the way, there are numerous websites that claim that they crunched the numbers as well.

https://www.homesnacks.net/cities/sa...-in-tennessee/

https://www.alarms.org/the-safest-ci...ennessee-2017/

https://www.niche.com/places-to-live...s/s/tennessee/

https://www.safehome.org/safest-cities/tn/

I could keep going, but you get the idea. It's all about the clicks.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

I was addressing geranium's question. Read it again.

The Knoxville Sentinel's headline does not say "The 20 Safest Cities in Tennessee."

Geranium was referring to the post on the security website.

For what it's worth, Safewise is a third-party aggregator that sells security systems. The author of that post is their marketer.

I agree that large cities will skew the crime data, but ranking states, on the whole, is a ridiculous endeavor, anyway.

By the way, there are numerous websites that claim that they crunched the numbers as well.

https://www.homesnacks.net/cities/sa...-in-tennessee/

https://www.alarms.org/the-safest-ci...ennessee-2017/

https://www.niche.com/places-to-live...s/s/tennessee/

https://www.safehome.org/safest-cities/tn/

I could keep going, but you get the idea. It's all about the clicks.

Exactly.

In addition, the FBI itself has warned people over and over against using its own stats to compare places. Not every entity--even within the same state--records and reports crime the same.

Plus, crime stats are based on city populations which means bedroom communities whose daytime populations shrink as people leave to work in neighboring cities will likely benefit from these rankings. Conversely, a town whose daytime population grows because the town is a hub for jobs, shopping, restaurants, etc., will be penalized by these rankings.

Take, for example, Morristown, whose population is about 30,000. Its daytime population swells to about 45,000 as people come into town for work, shopping, school, government, etc. So while most crime in Morristown happens during the day, when its population is 45,000 (shoplifting, stolen purses, petty theft, etc.), its crime stat is based on its resident population of 30,000.

Oak Ridge should also have an asterisk by its ranking. Even though Oak Ridge's daytime population increases by about 50% over its resident population because of the thousands who commute there for work, most of those workers driving into Oak Ridge drive into heavily secured facilities.