RSM Makes 'Top 25 Safest CA Cities' List: Report

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, CA — Living in a safe city is important, but how does Orange County stack up? SafeWise, an online safety resource, analyzed California cities to find the 50 safest cities, and Orange County towns accounted for just over a quarter of them. Rancho Santa Margarita came in at #13. Not bad, considering the Golden State has a total of 482 municipalities.

On the top 50 list, Orange County made a big showing– 62% of cities that made the list came from Southern California. Within the county, Irvine, Aliso Viejo, Yorba Linda, Mission Viejo were in the top 10 while Rancho Santa Margarita (13), Laguna Niguel (14), Fountain Valley (21), and San Clemente (25) rounded out the top half of the charts for civic safety. Cypress (32,), Lake Forest (33), Newport Beach (34), Placentia (47), Tustin (49) also made the top 50 safest cities to live in the state, according to the report parameters.

To compile this report, SafeWise analysts reviewed the most recent 2016 FBI crime statistics and census population data. The evaluation is based on the number of reported violent crimes (aggravated assault, murder, rape and robbery) in each city per 1,000 people. If there was a tie, they also factored in the number of property crimes (burglary, arson, larceny-theft, and car theft). Cities that fell below identified population thresholds or failed to submit a complete FBI crime report were excluded from the ranking system.

The safest town in Orange County as per the report using 2016 standards, Irvine had 266,663 residents, violent crimes accounted for only .57 per 1000 people, and property crimes accounted for 14.01 per 1000. The total crimes for that year were 4.07% violent crime, and 95.93% property related crime.

According to the SafeWise analysis, of the 49,606 residents living in Rancho Santa Margarita, only .97 violent crimes per 1,000 people, and 5.38 property crimes per 1,000 people. For the total crime in Rancho Santa Margarita, 17.98% was violent, and 82.02% was property.

“We were impressed to find California’s fifty safest cities reported an average of just one violent crime for every 1,000 people—that’s 80% lower than the US average, according to the most recent FBI crime report," SafeWise security analyst Alexia Chianis said. "Property crime rates were also quite low, with well over half of the cities reporting fewer than twenty crimes of this type per 1,000 people.”

The top 10 safest cities in California are:

1. Danville
2. Murrieta
3. San Ramon
4. Irvine
5. Aliso Viejo
6. Yorba Linda
7. Lincoln
8. Rancho Palos Verdes
9. Chino Hills
10. Mission Viejo

To read the complete report, visit SafeWise.

With Emily Holland, Patch Editor, Image via Shutterstock