Joliet Named One Of Safest Cities In America By Website

JOLIET, IL — Joliet recently topped MoneyGeek's 2023 roundup of the Safest Cities in America. Joliet ranked the eighth-safest city in America, with a crime cost per capita of $247, a violent crime rate of 168 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 372 per 100,000 residents.

The finance-focused website reviewed 263 cities that have populations of 100,000 or more residents, studying data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Gun Violence Archive and other sources. Factors that weighed into the rankings include:

• Population
• Cost of crime per capita
• Crime rates
• Property crimes
• Violent crimes

The list of top 15 safest cities in America included the following rankings:

• 1. Naperville, IL $156
• 2. Sunnyvale, CA $156
• 3. West Covina, CA $181
• 4. Carmel, IN $205
• 5. Glendale, AZ $210
• 6. Meridian, ID $230
• 7. Provo, UT $245
• 8. Joliet, IL $247
• 9. Jurupa Valley, CA $253
• 10. Sugar Land, TX $260
• 11. McAllen, TX $268
• 12. El Monte, CA $277
• 13. Rancho Cucamonga, CA $283
• 14. Glendale, CA $299
• 15. Pearland, TX $302

Joliet Patch reached out to the Joliet Police Department on Tuesday for reaction to MoneyGeek study.

“The mission of the Joliet Police Department has always been to work with the community for a safer city," Joliet Police Chief Bill Evans responded in a statement. "We will continue in our attempts to achieve strong relationships of mutual trust between our agency and our community with the goal to provide the safest environment possible for our citizens to live, work, and recreate."

Joliet City Councilman Larry Hug, who is running for re-election in District 1 against challenger Mike Eulitz in the April 4 municipal elections, told Patch he was not surprised by the positive MoneyGeek survey results for Joliet.

"We have the best police department in the state," Hug told Patch on Tuesday. "The men and women in blue do a fantastic job. When you have a great police department and members of the Council that fully support them, this is the result. Watch out, Naperville, we're heading to number one."

Hug serves on the city's public safety committee. Hug noted that the City Council has hired many police officers "while giving them the best tools and resources to let them do their job."

On Jan. 17, Chief Evans told the Joliet City Council that violent crime across Joliet dropped slightly last year and the Joliet Police Department investigated a grand total of seven homicides, which is up by two from the 2021, but nowhere near the homicide totals from the previous two years.

"Crime is up in some areas, slightly, and it's down in some areas, slightly," Evans said last month.

In 2020, Joliet had 15 homicides and in 2019, Joliet had 19 homicides.

"All in all, violent crimes in the city of Joliet are actually down 2 percent," Evans told the Council. "We went from about 706 violent crimes last year in 2021 and 692 in the 2022 year."

With a crime cost per capita of $156, Naperville beat out Sunnyvale and West Covina, California; Carmel, Indiana; and Glendale, Arizona for the top berth. Joliet, however, finished in the not too distant No. 8 spot.

Click the link to see the full list of MoneyGeek's Safest Cities in America.

Related Patch coverage:

'Everybody Always Asks The Question Is Crime Up In Joliet?'

Chicago Suburb Named Safest City In America In 2023 By Website