New Castle Among Safest Places in New York: New Report

Safety is a priority when you’re picking a place to live.

So ValuePenguin dug into the most recent FBI crime stats to see how New York’s communities measured up. They created a ranking system that weighted population size, violent crime and crimes against property. And they excluded municipalities with populations of less than 5,000 people.

They found that the safest all had something in common other than low crime rates: they were all incorporated villages or towns.

In the top 20 was New Castle. It even led the list of “mid-sized cities” because any municipality with 10-20,000 people got classified as a mid-sized city.

Here’s what the report says about the town:

Another Westchester County member, New Castle Town broke into the top 15 having registered only two violent crimes for the year in question. It’s less surprising that the town, which is very forthright with its arrest data, has struggled more with property-related crime. Its residents, who count Governor Andrew Cuomo among them, earn an estimated median household income of $194,127, 244% higher than the state’s average. The goverment’s third-largest annual expenditure, too, is on public safety.

“There is no doubt that when deciding where to live, schools and public safety are both top priorities,“ said New Castle Town Supervisor Rob Greenstein in response. “ Our ranking as the safest mid-sized city in New York combined with our well known world class schools make our community even more attractive to new home buyers. We will continue to work on initiatives such as zero tolerance for distracted driving, railroad crossing safety and other safety measures so that New Castle provides a safe environment for adults, children and pets.”

Here’s the rankings of the local villages and towns that made it into the top 101:

3. Briarcliff Manor

4. Pleasantville

6. Irvington

12. Tuckahoe

14. New Castle

16. Bronxville

17. Croton-on-Hudson

19. North Castle

24. Carmel

25. Eastchester

26. Dobbs Ferry

28. Pound Ridge

30. Hastings

31. Rye Brook

33. Harrison

34. Scarsdale

36. Bedford

40. Sleepy Hollow

42. Suffern

45. Mount Pleasant

46. Mamaroneck Town

47. Mamaroneck Village

49. Tarry (town?)

51. Yorktown

52. Stony Point

55. Ramapo

59. Larchmont

72. Orangetown

84. Peekskill

85. Mount Kisco

88. Ossining

93. Greenburgh

101. Pelham Manor

There’s an alphabetical listing to make it easier to look up your town or city(or village, (if it has more than 5,000 people).

Read the full report and methodology here.

PHOTO: Downtown Chappaqua in New Castle/ New Castle Facebook page