Central Minnesota is home to two of the safest cities in the state for 2021.

Safewise.com has recently released their list of the safest cities in Minnesota for 2021, and Cold Spring and Richmond made the top 10, sharing the #7 spot. Here is how the top 10 safest cities in Minnesota laid out:

1. Elko New Market
2. Corcoran
3. Dayton
4. West Hennepin
5. La Crescent
6. Big Lake
7. Cold Spring/Richmond
8. Minnetrista
9. Belle Plaine
10. Farmington

Other area towns with notable positions on the safest cities list are St. Joseph in 22nd place, Sauk Rapids in 59th place, Little Falls in 62nd, and Sauk Centre in 65th. St. Cloud ranked as the 119th safest town.

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Safewise.com used data like FBI crime data, crime rates, and level of concern from residents to determine this ranking:

Even with the increases in Minnesota's crime rates this year, the state remained below the national average for both violent crime and property crime. Among all 50 states, Minnesota had the twelfth-lowest violent crime rate and the twenty-fifth-lowest property crime rate.

Some key stats that I found interesting from this study are:

  • 48% of Minnesota residents report feeling safe in their state compared to 55% of Americans.
  • 25% of respondents use some form of personal protection—much lower than the national average of 34%
  • There were 24 officer-involved shootings in 2020, a small decrease from 25 in 2019.
  • There was only a single murder among the top 20 safest cities this year, unchanged from last year.

In some other good news, Waite Park is no longer the least safe, they moved up to the third least safe, with Minneapolis taking the title from them. A title they can gladly take off Waite Park's hands.

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The 25 Best Places to Live in Minnesota

Stacker compiled a list of the best places to live in Minnesota using data from Niche. Niche ranks places to live based on a variety of factors including cost of living, schools, health care, recreation, and weather. Cities, suburbs, and towns were included. Listings and images are from realtor.com.

On the list, there's a robust mix of offerings from great schools and nightlife to high walkability and public parks. Some areas have enjoyed rapid growth thanks to new businesses moving to the area, while others offer glimpses into area history with well-preserved architecture and museums. Keep reading to see if your hometown made the list.

 

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