The City of North Royalton was recently named among the top safest small cities in the U.S. The rankings were formulated by financial website, MoneyGeek: North Royalton was ranked in the top twenty-five of about 1,000 cities.
North Royalton was ranked thirteenth, with the number 1 spot going to Columbus, IN; 2, Wallingford, CT; 3, Lone Peak, UT; , 4, Zionsville, IN; 5, Monroe Township, Middlesex County, NJ; 6, Yorktown, NY; 7, Carmel Town, NY; 8, Wallkill Town ,NY; 9, Upper Arlington, OH; 10, Lexington, MA; 11, Shrewsbury, MA; 12, Wellesley, MA.
“To rank the safest small cities and towns in the United States, MoneyGeek started with standardized crime statistics reported to the FBI from 2023, the latest year of available data,” stated MoneyGeek officials. “To determine crime rates per 100,000 people, population data accessed from the FBI was added to the analysis. For the purposes of this analysis, MoneyGeek focused on cities with populations between 30,000 and 100,000 residents and included 1,061 cities in the ranking. Please note that 2023 data was not available for some small cities in Florida. When cities did not have data available in the FBI dataset, MoneyGeek conducted individualized research on standardized crime statistics for each specific city or town.” Research was provided by professors from the University of Miami and the University of Colorado Denver.
The data points used, are defined as follows:
• Crime Cost per Capita: Societal cost of crime per resident. North Royalton’s cost, $85.
• Violent Crime Rate: Composed of four offenses: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault per 100,000 residents. North Royalton’s rate, 29.
• Property Crime Rate: Includes burglary, larceny-theft and motor vehicle theft offenses per 100,000 residents. North Royalton’s rate, 326.
• Cost of Crime: Economic losses attributed to crime and its cost to society (individuals, community and nationally) in millions. North Royalton’s cost, $2.6 M.
On the ranking, Mayor Larry Antoskiewicz has stated that, “We are very lucky to live in such a quaint, quiet community, where neighbors still look out for one another. Our Police Department also works hard and performs many community outreach programs and maintains a very visible presence in our city and schools, which I believe, helps deter crime and keeps our numbers low.” The Facebook post also stated that “Mayor Antoskiewicz said it’s a testament to Chief Tarase and our Police Department.”
The full top safest small cities report is listed on the MoneyGeek website, at www.moneygeek.com/living.
By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer