VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The City of Virginia Beach was named the nation's safest large city in a recent study by insurance company AdvisorSmith.
Using the Federal Bureau of Investigation's most recent crime data, which includes crimes committed during 2020, AdvisorSmith created a crime score to weight different types of crimes based on the severity of the crime. Violent crimes like robbery, assault, rape and murder weighted higher than property crimes like burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft.
Out of 59 large cities studied, Virginia Beach rated the safest, with 10.2 violent crimes per 1,000 people reported and a total crime score of 30.9. The city's population was estimated at 450,858.
No other Virginia cities ranked in the top 100 large safest cities.
Hampton was named the 96th safest midsize city in the country, with 15.4 violent crimes per 1,000 people reported and a crime score of 55.3. No other Hampton Roads cities were named in AdvisorSmith's lists.
"Our study tabulated the violent and property crimes per 1,000 residents per year for publication. We also created a proprietary crime score that was based upon applying a multiplier to more serious forms of crime such as murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault," AdvisorSmith said in a release. "These crimes were added to simple assault and property crimes to form a crime score for each city, with a lower score indicating that a city experiences less crime. We then ranked the cities based upon their crime scores to determine the safest cities in the United States."
To read AdvisorSmith's full study and see its lists of safest cities in the country, click here.
