Stillwater is 2nd Safest Mid-Sized Minnesota City: Study

If you have the pleasure of living in Stillwater, also known as the birthplace of Minnesota, then you may not be too surprised to learn it's one of the safest towns in the state. In fact, Stillwater was ranked in the top five 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 Stillwater at No. 2 in 2016, just behind South Lake Minnetonka:

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, Stillwater has an estimated population of 18,674.

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."

Stillwater's crime score is 685. Overall, Stillwater rated 23rd 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
• Woodbury: 50th
• Faribault: 99th
• Saint Paul: 122nd
• Minneapolis: 125th

Image via Richie Diesterheft, Flickr, used under Creative Commons