See The Safest Place To Live In California: Low To No Crime Rate In This Small Town

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, CA — An Orange County town of just over 46,000 people continues to rank as California's Safest City, this time in a report from MoneyGeek.

Rancho Santa Margarita consistently shows low crime rates, no severe crimes such as rapes or murders based upon FBI analysis, and transparent crime reporting between local government and area agencies. The city also says that active civic engagement and robust policing strategies help bolster overall safety without disrupting the family-friendly Orange County small town.

According to the minds at MoneyGeek, the crime costs the Rancho Santa Margarita resident only about $91 per capita. The violent crime rate is 48, while the property crime rate is 433 per year. Each year, the total crime cost in the city is $4,201,000 per year.

More than 50 million Americans live in small cities and towns, according to MoneyGeek. They analyzed crime statistics and quantified the cost of those crimes to identify the safest and least safe small cities and towns — those with 30,000 to 100,000 residents.

"MoneyGeek analyzed crime statistics by quantifying the cost of crime and ranking 1,061 small cities and towns nationwide and in every state," experts at the organization said. "Data on violent crimes such as murder, rape and aggravated assault are included, as well as property crimes such as burglaries and car theft. This analysis is conducted annually and follows MoneyGeek’s ranking of the safest cities in America."

Some things of note:

• Overall, small cities and towns have 48% lower crime costs than larger cities.
• The safest small city in the U.S. is Columbus, located in Indiana’s Bartholomew County, roughly 40 miles south of Indianapolis.
• Some small towns still bear the costs of crime comparable to large cities. Pine Bluff, Arkansas, has a higher crime cost per capita than all of the 292 large cities analyzed. Similarly, New York City has a crime cost comparable to Juneau, Alaska and Grand Island, Nebraska.

Earlier this year, SafeWise also named the small town as one of the top 10 safest places to live in the Golden State.

Rancho Santa Margarita, followed by Aliso Viejo, Yorba Linda and Laguna Niguel, ranked in the top 10 safest cities in the state. All four cities are in Orange County. Orange County cities dominated the list with cities in the region claiming five of the top 10 spots.

"When it comes to safety, daily concern continues to be the California state of mind," the report said. "From those we surveyed, 64 percent of Californians feel a high daily level of concern for their safety—the highest percentage in the nation and up from 50 percent last year."

See also:

Rancho Santa Margarita Ranks As Safest City In CA