Shelton Among The 100 Safest In U.S.: Safewise

SHELTON, CT — Shelton was ranked among the country's 100 safest towns, according to security company Safewise.

With a population of 41,302 residents, Shelton ranked below New Milford and above Guilford.

According to the recent study, Connecticut has the fourth-lowest violent crime rate in the country at 1.8 incidents per 1,000 residents; the national average is four. The property crime rate is 15.7 incidents per 1,000 residents, which is the highest in New England, but still below the national average of 19.6

Safewise's listing (read the full methodology here) is based on the most recent FBI crime data, which is from 2020, the company's own survey data and demographic information.

The FBI generally cautions against using its Uniform Crime Report data as the sole source of information for rankings, since there are many factors that can affect the volume and type of crime reported.

Data voluntarily submitted by local agencies and not all agencies submit data to the FBI. 46 Connecticut municipalities met the criteria to be considered in the ranking.

The 10 safest municipalities in Connecticut, according to Safewise are:

1. Newtown (48th nationally)
2. Ridgefield (54th nationally)
3. Simsbury
4. Cheshire
5. Wallingford
6. Greenwich
7. Westport
8. New Milford
9. Shelton
10. Guilford

Safewise doesn't include municipalities with populations below 2,500 residents in its analysis. It then reports on municipalities that are above the median municipality population as reported to the FBI.