Crime Rate Rankings of Florida Cities and Metropolitan Areas

Here is some crime data for Florida cities and metropolitan areas. Florida cities are ranked against other U.S. cities (1 to 385) with populations of 75,000 or more. FL metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) are compared to other U.S. MSAs (1 to 338).

An MSA contains a principal city or urbanized area with a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants, the county in which it is located, and any adjacent counties that have a high degree of economic and social integration with the principal city and county as measured through commuting.

In the past few years, the safest Florida City is Coral Springs, the least safest are Orlando and Miami Gardens. Cities that fall between from safest to least safest include: Port St. Lucie, Boca Raton, Melbourne, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Gainesville, Jacksonville, and West Palm Beach.

It is important to consider both the rankings for a city and the larger metropolitan area in which it is located. They can have different rankings. Note the case of Cape Coral which has a ranking as a city of 92. However, the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan statistical area has a ranking of 259!

Naturally, the question arises as to what value this type of information is to the prospective Florida retiree. One answer to this question is that it makes one better informed about the comparative level of crime in the area under consideration for their Florida property purchase. This will help you or a loved one discover the best place to retire in Florida that meets all your requirements. Afterall, as stated elsewhere in The Florida Retirement Book, one doesn’t want to be confronted with the same concerns in retirement that motivated their move from their prior location!

Certainly, the level of crime in an area is of special concern to the older Florida retirement set. However, other factors also contribute to the “livability” of any given area of the state, or of any state for that matter.