FBI Total Crime Rates for Every City in Utah (Salt Lake City: ski resort, 2013)

[Geo-Aggie]

My wife fell asleep and I'm not tired, so I started playing with demographics and numbers. Yeah, super thrilling Saturday night, I know... Anyway, I came up with this and thought I'd share since I couldn't find it laid out in a table anywhere else on the internet. It may be of interest to people considering Utah as home in the future.

The stats are for 2012 as 2013 numbers are still preliminary and only released for cities greater than 100,000 people, which in Utah is only 4.

Crime rates are per 1000 people (ie a crime rate of 20 means that 20 crimes were reported for each 1,000 people who live in the city during the year of 2012. I'll update this when the final 2013 data is released.

Brian Head 270.59*
East Carbon 119.66
Salt Lake City 81.35
South Salt Lake 73.21
Park City 59.16
Riverdale 54.52
Springdale 52.73
Harrisville 51.73
Ogden 51.17
Price 48.64
Vernal 46.62
West Valley 46.12
Tooele 45.71
Moab 43.33
Salina 42.86
Brigham City 39.66
Roosevelt 39.10
Richfield 33.58
Washington 33.16
West Bountiful 31.31
Centerville 31.19
Sandy 31.08
Payson 30.97
North Salt Lake 29.77
West Jordan 29.55
Naples 29.27
Layton 28.69
Cedar City 27.73
Lindon 27.36
Helper 27.04
Parowan 26.89
Cottonwood Heights 26.24
Sunset 26.12
Woods Cross 25.33
Clearfield 25.33
Tremonton 25.26
Perry 24.78
Orem 24.02
Springville 23.30
North Park 22.89
American Fork/Cedar Hills 22.72
St. George 22.64
Provo 22.37
Nephi 22.33
Bountiful 22.26
Logan 21.72
Roy 21.50
Mount Pleasant 21.37
Hurricane 21.21
Draper 20.85
South Jordan 20.20
La Verkin 19.66
South Ogden 19.55
Monticello 17.93
Blanding 17.15
North Ogden 16.43
Enoch 16.11
Clinton 15.76
Farmington 15.34
Pleasant Grove 15.07
Salem 14.79
Bluffdale 14.27
Spanish Fork 13.81
Lehi 13.59
Santaquin/Genola 13.26
Kanab 13.03
Kamas 12.64
Pleasant View 12.32
Mapleton 11.43
Grantsville 10.78
Kaysville 10.73
Saratoga Springs 10.68
Smithfield 10.30
Fairview 9.43
Syracuse 9.41
Willard 8.31
Lone Peak 7.96
Moroni 6.89
Santa Clara/Ivins 6.78
Heber 6.36
Big Water 6.11
Centerfield 4.30
Stockton 3.14

*It should be noted that according to the data, Brian Head only has 85 permanent residents living there. Considering this is a ski resort with a lot of people leaving their skis around a few thefts of ski gear can really throws off the crime rate (which it has), so don't think this is like some ski resort where everyone gets shot, it's actually a super nice place. Park City also gets a nice bump from theft, likely related to resorts, but also has fairly high aggravated assault too.

Raw source data is here, but no rates are included on the website:
FBI Table 8 - Utah

[CCSLC]

It should also be noted that Salt Lake City's rate is misleading because its daytime population is much, much higher than its resident population and SLC proper is actually quite small. Like the resort towns, crime increases with the number of people...but they're nonresident people so it inflates the rate and makes it appear as if SLC has more crime per capita than much larger cities. If you're comparing crime rates among several cities, it's not fair to use this calculation along with another metropolitan area that is a self-contained city/county (like Denver). A more accurate rate would be to compare MSA to MSA.

[Geo-Aggie]

While I agree that the increase in daytime population in SLC does have some affect on the crime rate here I don't think that tells the whole story. SLC in general is just a higher crime area, by Utah standards (by normal big city standards it's pretty mild). Per Capita burglary and robbery rates are relatively high in SLC, and those crimes typically happen to residents rather than visitors, even if it is people coming from suburbs to commit the crimes.

While more population comes to SLC for work than anywhere else in the state one could state the same about lots of other cities with large commercial and industrial areas like Ogden, Provo, So. Salt Lake, West Valley, Sandy, Clearfield, Logan, St. George and maybe even Vernal with the oil fields and Price and Helper with the train stations (I have no idea what's going on in East Carbon, they need to chill out, out there.) Things like Theft, GTA and Assault being high can certainly be explained by the fact that lots of people come to SLC both day and night, but you can't commit burglary on someone who is visiting the city and most robbery cases are of stores and residences, though this would certainly include getting held up on the street too which could happen regardless of where home is.

Also of note, holy crap Helper - 7 murders?! Did some multiple homicide happen there in 2012 that I wasn't aware of?

I wish there were a way to post a spreadsheet on here, so I could display rates for each crime without needing a gigantic 800 line post

[dcisive]

Stockton here I come. LOL

[Chango]

Stockton is 'da shizzle. Good cancer there too.

I'm Surprised to see Centerville so high up the list though... I wonder what happened since I left?

[Geo-Aggie]

Originally Posted by Chango

Stockton is 'da shizzle. Good cancer there too.

I'm Surprised to see Centerville so high up the list though... I wonder what happened since I left?

Haha, Walmart? No, I don't know. Realistically 31 reported crimes per 1000 people in a year though is pretty good for a suburb, considering this is taking in everything including graffiti and shoplifting. That's like what? 800 reported cases for the city in an entire year. Less than three per day.

[pnwmdk]

Originally Posted by Geo-Aggie

Also of note, holy crap Helper - 7 murders?! Did some multiple homicide happen there in 2012 that I wasn't aware of?

Typo, maybe?

I swear Helper was the sleepiest, quietest, most dull town, when went through a few times in the 80's

[f5fstop]

In regard to Moab, the crimes are primarily larceny and property crimes and many are committed by drunk tourists visiting from other states.
And living here for five years, it tends to be a busy town, with tons of tourists, and an extremely high number of morons.

[Geo-Aggie]

Originally Posted by f5fstop

In regard to Moab, the crimes are primarily larceny and property crimes and many are committed by drunk tourists visiting from other states.
And living here for five years, it tends to be a busy town, with tons of tourists, and an extremely high number of morons.

I agree, certainly. I wish there were a way to upload tables into City-Data and I'd post a much more detailed analysis.

My reasoning for posting the total crime rate is that reported crime is crime. Regardless of what it is and why it's caused it happens in that location and repeated occurrences make that location less desirable. If someone car jacks you or hits your lawn gnomes with a baseball bat, it affects you the same, regardless of if it was your neighbor or a tourist though certainly a murder is considerably less desirable than some smashed lawn gnomes.

Obviously much more goes into desirability though as even though the crime rate is nearly 30x greater in SLC than Stockton, I'd rather live in SLC.. but being able to draw comparisons like Ogden has only 20% more crime than Brigham City plays into someone's choice in choosing a home. I always thought Ogden had high crime and Brigham seemed to a sleepy and crime-free exurb, but statistically speaking they're very similar crime-wise and 20% is certainly not enough to make the 30 minute commute to the city seem worth it, at least for me.

[imalert]

This is very helpful statistical data, since I'm trying to decide on my move to either Utah or Arizona from the DC Metropolitan Area.