Mendota Heights is 8th Safest Mid-Sized Minnesota City: Study

If you have the pleasure of living in Mendota Heights, then you may not be too surprised to learn it's one of the safest towns in the state. In fact, Mendota Heights was ranked in the top ten safest mid-sized cities in Minnesota, which includes cities in the state with a population between 10,000 and 20,000.

Value Penguin, a personal finance website, slotted Mendota Heights at No. 8 in 2016, just behind Worthington:

1. South Lake Minnetonka
2. Stillwater
3. Centennial Lakes
4. White Bear Township
5. Big Lake
6. St. Peter
7. Worthington
8. Mendota Heights
9. Sauk Rapids
10. Buffalo

According to the United States Census Bureau, Mendota Heights has an estimated population of 11,172.

To come up with its rankings, ValuePenguin used data pulled from 2014 FBI statistics, the most recent stats available:

"We standardized the data to reflect violent and property crimes per 100,000, to account for population. Then, we aggregated a “crime score” by weighting violent crime at 80% and property crime at 20%. … Then we adjusted the crime score for population size, giving more slack to larger cities. Finally, we ranked the cities based on their crime scores."

Mendota Heights' crime score is 893. Overall, Mendota Heights rated 41st in safety among the 125 communities with populations of at least 5,000 that were studied by the website.

How did Stillwater compare to neighboring communities? Here's a look at their overall rankings:

• Farmington: 8th
• Rosemount: 9th
• Lakeville: 20th
• Stillwater: 23rd
• Eagan: 46th
• Woodbury: 50th
• Inver Grove Heights: 71st
• Faribault: 99th
• Saint Paul: 122nd
• Minneapolis: 125th

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