Most dangerous cities in Utah research summary. We analyzed the most recent FBI crime data to determine the most dangerous cities in Utah based on violent and property crimes per capita. Here are the results of our analysis:
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The most dangerous city in Utah is South Salt Lake based on the most recent FBI crime data.
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The violent crime rate in Utah is 1,026 per 100k people.
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The property crime rate in Utah is 7,615 per 100k people.
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The safest city in Utah is Salem.
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Utah is the 23rd most dangerous state in the United States.
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Table | FAQs | References
It turns out that Utah has more to worry about than Polygamy and alcohol stores operating without a state license, the state has its fair share of super dangerous places too.
And because RoadSnacks thinks it’s important to provide important information to the public, we created a list of the most dangerous places in Utah for 2023. We suggest you take a look at them before you make any life changing decisions. How’d we do it? We consulted the numbers. In total, we analyzed 66 cities. We looked at the FBI’s latest crime report for violent crime and property crime statistics for every place with over 5,000 residents. We discovered that Utah’s overall violent and property crime numbers, while above the national average, the numbers in the state’s most dangerous places could be better.
If you asked most Utahns, they would say that their little corner of this western state is the best, but that’s not the case for the people who live in Utah’s most dangerous places. The residents in these places are not only witnessing high crime, they are dealing with unemployment, low wages, and lack of rehabilitation programs. This is shocking because Utah is the sixth wealthiest state in the country. Do we think that the state needs to reevaluate their income and sales tax so that they can take care of their problems? We’re not entirely sure, but one thing we know is that the trickle down effect must be stopping after Utah’s best cities are compensated.
Want to know the places in Utah where jobs are scarce, wages low, and crime is high? Keep reading.
The Most Dangerous Cities In Utah For 2023
- South Salt Lake
- Salt Lake City
- Murray
- Ogden
- West Valley
- Roosevelt
- Riverdale
- Moab
- Tooele
- Park City
Let’s be real, we’re not talking about snowboarding in Park City without a helmet kind of danger. The type of danger we’re talking about gets people on Salt Lake City’s KUTV at six. That’s because the cities that made our list have robberies happening in broad daylight, car jackings, and daily shootings. There are neighborhoods in these cities that you shouldn’t drive thru, ever.
So, what’s the most dangerous place in Utah? That would be, South Salt Lake.
The Utah cities on our most dangerous list could definitely use some TLC. If you’re looking to be that diamond in the rough, or you’re just curious to see if your city made the list, take a look at our list below. And if you don’t see your city there, head to the bottom.
Learn more about the safest places in Utah.
If you’re looking for something more national, check out the most dangerous cities in America or the most dangerous states in America.
For more Utah reading, check out:
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.
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Population: 25,422
Rank Last Year: 1 (No Change)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 1,026 (Most dangerous)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 7,615 (Most dangerous)
More on South Salt Lake: | Cost Of Living | Crime Report
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.
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Population: 205,929
Rank Last Year: 2 (No Change)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 969 (Second most dangerous)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 6,840 (Second most dangerous)
More on Salt Lake City: | Cost Of Living | Crime Report
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.
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Population: 48,524
Rank Last Year: 4 (Up 1)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 393 (Ninth most dangerous)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 5,840 (Third most dangerous)
More on Murray: | Cost Of Living | Crime Report
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.
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Population: 87,828
Rank Last Year: 6 (Up 2)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 552 (Fourth most dangerous)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 3,071 (Eighth most dangerous)
More on Ogden: | Cost Of Living | Crime Report
5. West Valley
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.
Population: 134,329
Rank Last Year: 5 (No Change)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 543 (Fifth most dangerous)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 3,097 (Seventh most dangerous)
More on West Valley:
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.
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Population: 7,377
Rank Last Year: 3 (Down 3)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 474 (Sixth most dangerous)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 2,833 (11th most dangerous)
More on Roosevelt: | Cost Of Living | Crime Report
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.
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Population: 9,038
Rank Last Year: 8 (Up 1)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 188 (17th most dangerous)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 4,558 (Fourth most dangerous)
More on Riverdale: | Cost Of Living | Crime Report
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.
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Population: 5,400
Rank Last Year: 7 (Down 1)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 648 (Third most dangerous)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 2,000 (19th most dangerous)
More on Moab: | Cost Of Living | Crime Report
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.
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Population: 37,626
Rank Last Year: 10 (Up 1)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 401 (Eighth most dangerous)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 2,168 (15th most dangerous)
More on Tooele: | Cost Of Living | Crime Report
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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Population: 8,679
Rank Last Year: 9 (Down 1)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 426 (Seventh most dangerous)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 1,889 (20th most dangerous)
More on Park City: | Cost Of Living | Crime Report
Methodology: How we determined the most dangerous cities in Utah for 2023?
Every year the FBI release two crime datasets on cities in Utah. First a preliminary dataset limited to the biggest cities in Utah, followed by a more detailed release at the end of the year.
For our analysis, we focused on the 2021 data, specifically the 2021 Crime In The United States Report for Utah. We will update the results when data becomes available in September 2023.
So what criteria did we use? Have a look:
- Violent Crimes Per Capita
- Property Crimes Per Capita
In order to make the analysis as apples to apples as possible, we only considered Utah cities over 5,000 in population. That left us with 66 cities in Utah.
We then ranked each city from 1 to 66 for the two criteria with a #1 ranking being the most dangerous for the particular criteria.
Next, we averaged the two rankings into one “Dangerous Index”.
Finally, we ranked every city on the “Dangerous Index” with the lowest index being the most dangerous in Utah — South Salt Lake. Any ties went to the smaller city.
Most Dangerous Places To Live In Utah FAQs
No, Utah is not a dangerous state as it ranks as the #28 safest state in the United States based on our analysis of the latest FBI Crime Data. The violent crime rate in utah ranks 39th highest in the United States — 32.79% better than US average violent crime rate. The property crime rate in the Beehive State ranks 11th highest in the United States — 25.85% worse than US average property crime rate. The latest reporting year from the FBI was 2020.
Yes, Salt Lake City is a dangerous city. Salt Lake City ranks as the #2 most dangerous out of 320 major cities over 100,000 people in the United States based on our analysis of the latest FBI Crime Data. Keep in mind that are always safe and dangerous parts of any city, so even though Salt Lake City might be considered dangerous you still need to be aware of where you are. For example, Greater Avenues is the safest in Salt Lake City, while Poplar Grove is considered dangerous by many based on recent crime stats.
Compared to other big cities, the violent crime rate in Salt Lake City ranks 48th highest in America — 68.05% worse than US average violent crime rate. The property crime rate in the ranks highest in the United States — 176.84% worse than US average property crime rate. Note the latest reporting year from the FBI was 2020 and that no city in America is ‘dangerous’. Despite the uptick in murders, it’s nothing like you’d see in Tijuana or Caracas where the murder rate is 2x any American city.
Graphing The Most Dangerous And Safest Places In Utah
Summary: Locking It All Up In Utah
So what is the most dangerous city in Utah? After analyzing 66 cities in Utah, South Salt Lake takes the top spot as the most dangerous city in Utah based on the most recently reported FBI data — 2021.
The latest FBI crime data shows that South Salt Lake ranks as the most dangerous city in Utah for 2023.
We want to point out again that there’s still safes places in South Salt Lake and that this isn’t a comment on the people that live there. So please don’t beat us up.
Let’s be real, we’re not talking about snowboarding in Park City without a helmet kind of danger. The type of danger we’re talking about gets people on Salt Lake City’s KUTV at six. That’s because the cities that made our list have robberies happening in broad daylight, car jackings, and daily shootings. There are neighborhoods in these cities that you shouldn’t drive thru, ever.
So, what’s the most dangerous place in Utah? That would be, South Salt Lake.
The Utah cities on our most dangerous list could definitely use some TLC. If you’re looking to be that diamond in the rough, or you’re just curious to see if your city made the list, take a look at our list below. And if you don’t see your city there, head to the bottom.
Learn more about the safest places in Utah.
If you’re looking for something more national, check out the most dangerous cities in America or the most dangerous states in America.
Here are the safest cities in Utah:
- Herriman (Pop. 61,086)
- Syracuse (Pop. 33,340)
- Kaysville (Pop. 33,139)
- Mapleton (Pop. 11,497)
- Santaquin/Genola (Pop. 15,647)
- Santa Clara/Ivins (Pop. 18,948)
- North Park (Pop. 16,529)
- Lone Peak (Pop. 30,210)
- Enoch (Pop. 7,780)
- Salem (Pop. 9,151)
For more Utah reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Utah
- Cheapest Places To Live In Utah
- Most Dangerous Cities In Utah
- Best Places To Raise A Family In Utah
- Safest Places In Utah
- Worst Places To Live In Utah
Crime By City In Utah
Rank | City | Population |
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1 | South Salt Lake | 25,422 |
2 | Salt Lake City | 205,929 |
3 | Murray | 48,524 |
4 | Ogden | 87,828 |
5 | West Valley | 134,329 |
6 | Roosevelt | 7,377 |
7 | Riverdale | 9,038 |
8 | Moab | 5,400 |
9 | Tooele | 37,626 |
10 | Park City | 8,679 |
11 | Sandy | 97,091 |
12 | West Jordan | 117,862 |
13 | Sunset | 5,354 |
14 | Richfield | 7,947 |
15 | Price | 8,291 |
16 | Centerville | 17,765 |
17 | West Bountiful | 5,988 |
18 | Cottonwood Heights | 33,301 |
19 | Layton | 80,230 |
20 | Orem | 100,060 |
21 | Tremonton | 9,038 |
22 | St. George | 94,601 |
23 | Draper | 49,671 |
24 | South Ogden | 17,187 |
25 | Hurricane | 20,594 |
26 | Woods Cross | 11,870 |
27 | Brigham City | 19,792 |
28 | North Salt Lake | 21,768 |
29 | Nephi | 6,598 |
30 | Clearfield | 32,375 |
31 | Roy | 39,765 |
32 | Logan | 52,015 |
33 | Kanab | 5,045 |
34 | Harrisville | 6,983 |
35 | Grantsville | 12,819 |
36 | Lindon | 11,609 |
37 | Perry | 5,471 |
38 | American Fork/Cedar Hills | 44,725 |
39 | Provo | 116,642 |
40 | South Jordan | 81,919 |
41 | Cedar City | 36,903 |
42 | Springville | 33,977 |
43 | North Ogden | 21,379 |
44 | Washington | 33,668 |
45 | Farmington | 26,218 |
46 | Saratoga Springs | 37,985 |
47 | Payson | 21,291 |
48 | Pleasant Grove | 38,730 |
49 | Pleasant View | 11,139 |
50 | Bluffdale | 19,428 |
References
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FBI UCR 2022
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Census – American Cumminity Survey