Preston ranks among top 10 safest cities in Idaho
What are the safest cities in Idaho?
A new report from safewise.com answers that question. The report ranks Idaho’s saefst cities based on crime statistics.
One of the top 10 safest cities was Preston. Preston has a population of a little more than 5,000 people. It ranked number six on the list of safest cities.
Brad Wall, a Preston city council member, said he’s glad to see Preston make the list.
“I’m elated that we’re in the top 10,” he said. “To be recognized as a safe place to live is something that I think every city would desire to do and I think that certainly here in Preston we’re proud of that accomplishment.”
The report from Safe Wise was based on FBI crime statistics from 2014. Complete statistics from 2015 are not available yet. The report is based on crimes per thousand people. The top 10 cities had an average of about 6 crimes for every thousand.
The report also broke down statistics by violent crimes versus property crimes. Violent crimes are considered things like murder, aggravated assault or rape. Property crimes are considered things like vandalism, burglary or theft. Preston’s ranking for property crimes was fairly average at about 12.4 crimes per thousand people. Preston’s violent crime ranking, however, was very low at just 0.58 crimes per thousand.
Wall said every city is going to have some crime, but it’s the violent crime cities don’t want a reputation for. So he’s happy to see Preston ranks extremely low in that category. He attributes the low crime rate to the type of community Preston has.
“One thing, it’s a really family-friendly city,” Wall said. “There’s a lot of young families here. A large percentage of our population is, say, under the age of 30 and so I think that helps it be a safe place. Also, we have a very good workforce here. Our unemployment numbers are very low and I think that probably lends itself to also being a safe community because our people are active, they’re working.”
Wall said there’s a lot of factors he would say contributes to Preston being safe. But he said no matter the reasons, making the top 10 is a great thing for the city and its proud to be recognized.
“We’re just honored to be on this list and hope that we can continue to stay there and even rise higher in those rankings,” Wall said.
Other cities from around the southeastern Idaho area were Shelley and St. Anthony. And the number one spot went to Rexburg.
The following are the complete top 10 cities .
1. Rexburg
2. Kimberly
3. Hailey
4. Fruitland
5. Shelley
6. Preston
7. Emmett
8. St. Anthony
9. Meridian
10. Heyburn
A complete list of cities and their detailed rankings can be found here.
