INDIANAPOLIS — A 2024 report ranking the safest suburbs in America has a Hamilton County city high on its list — and not the city you might expect.
Coming in as the 12th safest suburb in the United States is Noblesville, according to SmartAsset, bucking the trend of its more popular neighbors, like Carmel, Fishers or Westfield, frequently claiming similar honors.
SmartAsset, a personal finance website, reviewed 360 suburbs across major metro areas in the U.S. as part of their study. SmartAsset analyzed these suburbs based on multiple safety-related metrics: violent crime rates and property crime rates based on FBI data as well as rates of adults engaging in excessive drinking and deaths related to traffic accidents and drug poisonings from County Health Rankings.
To be considered a "suburb" for this report, a place needed to be within a 15- to 45-minute drive of one of the nation's 100 largest cities, and have a population of at least 5,000.
The safest suburbs, according to SmartAsset's analysis, were primarily in the Mountain West, Midwest, and East Coast, while many of the lower-ranking suburbs were in the South.
Lehi, Utah, took home the top honor this year after Great Falls, Virginia, claimed the title in 2023. Carmel came in second place in the rankings in 2023 but tumbled down the standings in this year's report — landing at 18.
While Noblesville was the highest-ranked Indiana suburb on the list, Fishers wasn't far behind at 16 making for three Indianapolis suburbs in the top 20.
Below are the 20 safest suburbs of 2024, according to SmartAsset's rankings:
- Lehi, Utah
- Bethesda, Maryland
- Layton, Utah
- Rockville, Maryland
- Great Falls, Virginia
- Dacula, Georgia
- Buford, Georgia
- Elmhurst, Illinois
- Oak Brook, Illinois
- Edgewater, New Jersey
- Palo Alto, California
- Noblesville, Indiana
- Naperville, Illinois
- Mountain View, California
- Pacifica, California
- Fishers, Indiana
- Fort Lee, New Jersey
- Carmel, Indiana
- Livermore, California
- Massapequa, New York
Ranking highest overall, Lehi, Utah, is located roughly 30 miles south of Salt Lake City, Lehi had the lowest rate of excessive drinking (Utah as a whole has the lowest excessive drinking rate in the nation), as well as low rates of violent and property crimes. Nearby Layton, a 25-minute drive north of Salt Lake City, ranked third overall.
Johnstown, Ohio, just outside of Columbus, had the lowest violent crime rate in the study while the Houston, Texas, suburb of Spring had the lowest property crime rate. Having the worst rate in both categories was Bernalillo, New Mexico, which is about 18 miles north of Albuquerque.
Bernalillo was the lowest-ranked suburb overall this year. Coming in at the bottom of SmartAsset's report were:
- Bernalillo, New Mexico
- Lumberton, North Carolina
- Scottsburg, Indiana
- Petersburg, Virginia
- Asheboro, North Carolina
- Senatobia, Mississippi
- DeLand, Florida
- Plymouth, Massachusetts
- Largo, Florida
- Capitola, California
Of the 27 Florida suburbs that made the list, only seven ranked among the top half of SmartAsset's list.
SmartAsset’s full list and methodology can be found here.
Another recent analysis found Roswell, Georgia, which was No. 134 on SmartAsset's report, is the best small city for safety and affordability, followed by Johns Creek, Georgia; Edmond, Oklahoma; and Mansfield, Texas. Johns Creek and Mansfield did not make SmartAsset's list while Edmond ranked No. 51.