Three Shelby County cities make top 10 list for safest cities in Alabama

Published 4:48 pm Thursday, January 10, 2019

By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

A recently compiled list ranking the top 50 safest cities in the state of Alabama resulted in three cities in Shelby County making the top 10, including one taking the top spot, according to home security ranking website Thehomesecurityadvisor.com.

According to the list, Helena came in as the highest ranked safest city in the state at No. 1, followed by Pelham at No. 4 and Alabaster at No. 6.

To compile the list, Home Security Advisor reviewed the most recent 2017 FBI Uniform Crime Report figures and only towns and cities with 5,000 residents or higher were considered.

The website reviewed both violent and property crimes in each city or town. In order to reflect the gravity of the criminal activity, these figures were weighted. Violent crimes were factored by .75 and property crimes by .25.

This number was then divided by the population in the community, according to the website.

In the state of Alabama, there were on average 524 violent crimes committed per 100,000 residents and 2,957 average property crimes committed per 100,000 residents.

For Helena, the city was tabbed No. 1 with an average violent crime rate of 16 and an average property crime rate of 93 with a population of 18,965.

For Pelham, the No. 4 ranking was given with an average violent crime rate of 33 and an average property crime rate of 504 with a population of 23,000.

For Alabaster, the No. 6 ranking was given with an average violent crime rate of 74 and an average property crime rate of 527 with a population of 33,253.

Other cities within Shelby County to make the top 50 list include Hoover at No. 13 and Montevallo at No. 22.

To view the entire list, visit Thehomesecurityadvisor.com/safest-cities-alabama/.