Wake Forest is one of the safest cities in North Carolina, according to a study by ValuePenguin, a financial education website.
After analyzing the most recent FBI Crime Report data to determine the safest places in North Carolina, ValuePenguin ranked Wake Forest sixth among cities with populations greater than 25,000 and 25th overall.
“We are extremely pleased to learn of the ValuePenguin findings,” Wake Forest Police Chief Jeff Leonard said. “One of the primary objectives of our strategic plan is to enhance the sense of safety in Wake Forest. Our high ranking suggests our residents have good reason to feel safe. That’s a testament to not only our policing efforts but also to the cooperation of our residents and their commitment to a safe community.”
The 10 North Carolina towns with a population over 25,000 ranked safest were Holly Springs, Apex, Cary, Cornelius, Huntersville, Wake Forest, Kannapolis, Chapel Hill, Matthews and Concord. For those towns with a population between 10,000 and 25,000, Morrisville was ranked second, and for towns between 5,000 and 10,000 in population, Wendell was ranked eighth.
To rank these places, ValuePenguin collected data from the 2014 FBI crime statistics by city, which provides the most recent crime data available. It is important to note that not every town participates in this report, and communities with fewer than 5,000 residents were excluded because towns with small populations are more sensitive to crime score fluctuations for fewer crimes committed.
The raw data report included property crimes (burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson), and violent crimes (murder/manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) from all law enforcement agencies that chose to partake in the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting program.
ValuePenguin standardized the data to reflect violent and property crimes per 100,000, to account for population. Then, they aggregated a “crime score” by weighting violent crime at 80 percent and property crime at 20 percent. Though property crime is more prevalent, violent crime tends to be more concerning to residents. Then they adjusted the crime score for population size, giving more slack to larger cities. Finally, the cities were ranked based on their crime scores.
