Idaho’s 10 Safest Cities of 2021

1. Weiser
2. Rexburg
3. Fruitland
4. Shelley
5. Rathdrum
6. Moscow
7. Preston
8. Rupert
9. Middleton
10. Hailey

See if your city made the full list.

There’s not much keeping Idahoans awake at night these days. The Gem State landed among the lowest percentile for concern on all seven topics we surveyed.

The state’s violent and property crime rates fall far below the national average and high numbers of residents protect themselves and their property. This could explain why 74% of Idahoans feel safe in their state—compared to 55% nationally.

Idahoans were also the least concerned about package theft, third-least concerned over police violence, and sixth-least concerned about gun violence and overall safety. And what’s more, concern over safety in Idaho has dropped consistently year over year.

But of the things that worry Idaho residents, property crime topped the list. And it makes sense considering The Gem State saw a significant increase in property crime over the last year. We even saw an increase in personal experience with crime from our survey respondents this year.

We asked Idahoans which crimes they worry may happen to them. See if Idaho residents are concerned about the same crime issues as the rest of the country.

View the complete 2021 State of Safety report.

Idaho has lower rates of violent crime than the rest of the region and the nation as a whole. But there were higher percentages of crimes like rape in Idaho. 

• Rape in Idaho accounts for a higher percentage of violent crime in Idaho than the rest of the country. Of the violent crimes in Idaho, 20% of reports were rape. 
• There was one mass shooting in Idaho in the last year. 
• Idaho’s safest city, Weiser, reported zero violent crimes in the last twelve months. Shelley, in the number 4 spot, fell close behind with only one violent crime incident reported.
• Of the safest cities, Hailey had the most violent crime with 19 cases of aggravated assault and one rape reported.
• Preston was the only safest city that reported a murder.
• 35% of Idahoans we surveyed use personal protection like pepper spray or stun guns (US 34%). 
• 30% say their personal safety has been affected by the pandemic (US 44%). 
• Gun violence is low on the list of concerns for Idaho residents. Only 21% said they were worried about gun violence happening to them, compared to the 38% national average.
• 58% of Idaho residents say they have confidence in law enforcement.

There was a dip in property crime in Idaho since last year, from 14.6 to 12.2. Idaho sees about half the property crime rates as the rest of the Mountain region.

• Larceny-theft made up nearly three-quarters of property crime in Idaho. In the safest cities alone, 78% of property crimes were larceny-theft.
• Idaho also sees a higher percentage of burglary. It makes up 18% of property crimes in Idaho. Nationwide, burglary accounts for only 16% of property crimes.
• Weiser reported zero property crimes in the last year.
• There was only one case of arson reported in the safest cities in the last twelve months.
• In Idaho, 61% say they use some method to protect their property. Of those folks, 44% protect their property with firearms.
• Only 18% of Idahoans felt their property’s safety was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nationally, the average is 29%.

For the purposes of this report, the terms “dangerous” and “safest” refer explicitly to crime rates as calculated from FBI crime data—no other characterization of any community is implied or intended.

• Weiser, Idaho’s safest city, is new to our list this year. The town reported 0 violent and property crimes in the last year. 
• Weiser is joined by other newcomers Fruitland and Shelley. 
• Hailey dropped eight spots to number 10 this year. This Southern Idaho city held the second spot last year. 
• Rupert was the most improved this year, jumping four spots to number 8 on our list. Rupert dropped its violent crime rate significantly in the last year from 2.6 to 0.7. 
• All ten of Idaho’s safest cities had property crime rates below the state, regional, and national average.
• Fruitland cut its property crime rates nearly in half from 12.8 last year to 6.6 this year.

Learn how we identified the safest cities on our methodology page.

Whether your city made our list or not, we encourage everyone to be proactive about home security. Learn more about your home security options—and find out which companies we recommend for every budget and lifestyle in our roundup of the Best Home Security Systems.

We calculated crime rates for every city in the state that met our population threshold, based on the state’s median population. See how the remaining cities ranked in the list below.

NOTE: If you don’t see your city on the list, it means that it was below the population threshold or didn’t submit a complete crime report to the FBI in 2019.

Click on the state image or dropdown menu below to check out the safest cities for each state.

• Best Home Security Systems
• Best Home Security Cameras
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• Burglary Stats & Facts
• The Most Burglarized City in Every State

FBI: Uniform Crime Reporting Program, “2019 Crime in the United States,” Accessed March 15, 2021.

US Census Bureau, "Data Explorer," Accessed November 18, 2020.

Best Places, “Find a Place Search Tool,” Accessed January 6, 2021.

SafeWise, “2021 State of Safety survey,” Accessed March 15, 2021.

Gun Violence Archive, “Past Summary Ledgers,” Accessed January 6, 2021.

Gun Violence Archive, “General Methodology,” Accessed March 15, 2021.

Melody Hicks, Ben Stickle, Joshua Harms, American Journal of Criminal Justice, “Assessing the Fear of Package Theft,” January 04, 2021. Accessed March 15, 2021.

For definitions and more on data sources, see our methodology page.