Fall River ranks in top 25 of safest cities in Massachusetts

According to a new ranking, Fall River has made strides as a safer city, although there is still room for improvement.

SafeHOME.org ranked the safest cities in each state. Fall River came in at number 21 for Massachusetts. Taunton fared even better at number 6.

The higher the score, the safer the city is according to the rankings.

The data tabulated by the study shows that Fall River’s violent crime has decreased slightly while property crimes have dropped significantly.

Safety Score: 76.49
Fall River, MA Ranking: 21

Population: 88,711
Citizen-to-Officer Ratio: 323
Violent Crimes: 1,012
Violent Crime Trend: -2.1% 
Property Crimes: 1,767
Property Crime Trend: -19%

Safety Score: 86.49
Taunton, MA ranking: 6

Population: 56,731
Citizen-to-Officer Ratio: 480
Violent Crimes: 207
Violent Crime Trend: -1.3% 
Property Crimes: 619
Property Crime Trend: -3.5% 

Taunton ranked as the 61st safest city in the country.

No other city in the area made the Massachusetts list.

The methodology:

This ranking calculates a Safety Score for major cities in the US. The higher the Safety Score, the safer data shows the city to be.

They looked at several different factors when assigning a Safety Score to a city. First and foremost is the FBI’s latest report of how many and what types of crimes occurred in each city over a single year. The city’s crime trends are also considered; in other words, cities where crime is on the decline are given a higher Safety Score and vice-versa. They also look at the number of law enforcement officers compared to the population.

Finally, demographic metrics that are correlated to crime have a small impact on Safety Score. These include metrics such as population density, population trends, unemployment rate, median income, education level, etc.

For the full list and more on their methodology, click here.