The 10 Most Dangerous Cities In Utah For 2023

The 10 Most Dangerous Places To Live In Utah For 2023

South Salt Lake is Utah’s most dangerous city, beating out the capital for the top spot once again. The property crime rate in South Salt Lake hasn’t changed much over the last year, but the violent crime rate dropped by a solid amount.

Even with that impressive drop, South Salt Lake remains the most violent place in Utah, with residents facing a 1 in 97 shot of being assaulted, robbed, raped, or murdered over 2021. All the more reason to buddy up and get home before dark if you’re at one of South Salt Lake’s parks.

South Salt Lake is also the place with the most property crime in the state. That includes the fourth highest burglary rate in Utah, with about five burglaries going down each week.

The capital and most populous city in Utah, Salt Lake City is, unfortunately, the second most crime-ridden spot in the state. Sure, you can get away to Big Cottonwood Canyon and forget about crime for a while, but the streets of Salt Lake City will be waiting for you.

Salt Lake City had the second highest violent crime rate over 2021, recording 1,996 such crimes. That includes a murder a month and a robbery every day, on average.

You don’t want to leave your doors unlocked here because Salt Lake City had the highest burglary rate statewide. You should also make sure your car alarm works, or you may join the 2,122 residents who had their cars stolen over the year.

Still, if you steer clear of Salt Lake City’s worst neighborhoods, you should be plenty safe.

Located just south of Salt Lake City, Murray ranks as the third least safe place to live in Utah for 2023. Murray had the third highest property crime rate statewide, with residents facing a whopping 1 in 17 chance of having their stuff stolen or damaged over 2021 — the last reporting year.

Which means it may be a good idea to start padlocking your picnic baskets before a visit to Murray City Park. Oh, and make sure you lock your doors — more than one burglary and one car theft a day go down in Murray, on average.

It’s not like you don’t have to worry about violent crime here, either — Murray had the 15th highest rate of rape cases in Utah.

Back in 2010, Forbes named Ogden the 6th best place to raise a family in America.

That’s awfully surprising considering Ogden’s abysmal crime rate. Ogden had the ninth highest burglary rate in Utah for 2021, and there was a car theft nearly every day of the year. We just hope criminals don’t put those two crimes together and steal a plane from the Hill Aerospace Museum.

Still, there’s 83% less violent crime and 100% less property crime in Ogden than South Salt Lake, so that’s decent news for Ogden’s families.

Utah’s second most populous city, West Valley comes in as the fifth most dangerous place to call home in the state.

West Valley residents have to contend with the fifth highest violent crime rate in Utah. That includes the 16th highest rate of rape cases and the eighth highest murder rate in the state — that’s about one murder a month.

West Valley might benefit from staging a production of “Crime and Punishment” at the local Hale Centre Theatre, to teach residents that crime doesn’t pay.

At least property crime in West Valley dropped slightly from last year, so that’s a start.

We’re taking a trip out of the capital area to reach Utah’s sixth most dangerous city, Roosevelt. Roosevelt saw a shocking rise in violent crime over the last year, while property crime pretty much stayed level.

That’s bad news for the Roosevelt Police Department, who have to protect residents from a 1 in 210 chance of being violently attacked. That includes the highest rate of rape cases in the state.

To give you an idea of how bad of a problem it is in Roosevelt, consider that South Salt Lake had the same amount of rape cases, with triple the population.

We’re heading back to the Ogden area to reach Utah’s seventh least safe place to live, Riverdale. While Riverdale occupies the #7 spot on this list, it actually had the fourth highest overall crime rate in Utah, with a crime rate more than twice as high as the national average.

How’d that happen? Well, Riverdale has the fourth highest property crime rate statewide, with residents up against a 1 in 21 chance of having their valuables stolen or vandalized over 2021.

On the bright side, there were only two violent crimes committed per month in Riverdale, on average. And if you need to take your mind off the high property crime rate, you can play a round of golf.

The least populated city on this list, Moab has become a popular tourist destination for mountain bikers, off-roaders, and hikers looking to see what all the fuss is about at Arches National Park. The city’s crime rate is what’s becoming extreme, though.

While property crime fell over the last reporting year, violent crime went up by a good margin. That left residents to deal with a 1 in 154 chance of being the victim of a violent attack over 2021, the third highest rate in Utah.

Unfortunately, a big part of the violence is down to Moab having the third highest rate of rape cases in Utah.

Tooele might mean “tumbleweed” in the language of the local Ute people. Or maybe not. People aren’t quite sure. What’s more clear: the amazing views of the mountains you get from this community in north-central Utah, located about 45 minutes outside of Salt Lake City.

The potential tumbleweed connection points to a Wild West past. Some of that might carry through to modern crime statistics. The area has a problem with violent crime, with the state’s number 8 highest pace of such violations. There are also a large number of arsons and burglaries, given the population of 37,626.

Just 30 miles southeast of downtown Salt Lake City, Park City is a lovely, artsy community that’s one of the main sites of the Sundance Film Festival.

But that charm hasn’t protected Park City from seeing a massive spike in crime over the past few years. Folks had a 1 in 234 shot of being violently attacked over 2021, which is about three times more likely than it was a few years back.

Property crime jumped up after falling a bit last year. However, the vast majority of those crimes are just larcenies, so keep an eye on your wallet and phone, and you should be all right.

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