The 10 Most Dangerous Cities In Utah

The 10 Most Dangerous Places To Live In Utah For 2024

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 2022. 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 second 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 2022, recording 1,970 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 1,731 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 2024. Murray had the third highest property crime rate statewide, with residents facing a whopping 1 in 19 chance of having their stuff stolen or damaged over 2022 — 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 16th highest rate of rape cases in Utah.

We’re heading back to the Ogden area to reach Utah’s fourth least safe place to live, Riverdale. While Riverdale occupies the #4 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 2022.

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.

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 seventh highest burglary rate in Utah for 2022, 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 sixth most dangerous place to call home in the state.

West Valley residents have to contend with the seventh highest violent crime rate in Utah. That includes the 19th highest rate of rape cases and the ninth 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.

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 202 shot of being violently attacked over 2022, 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.

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 134 chance of being the victim of a violent attack over 2022, the third highest rate in Utah.

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

We’re taking a trip out of the capital area to reach Utah’s ninth 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 318 chance of being violently attacked. That includes the 2highest 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.

West Jordan is Utah’s fourth biggest and tenth most dangerous place to live. Folks come from all over to enjoy the brick-lined paths and boutique-style shops in West Jordan.

They’d be well advised to keep an eye on their pockets because there were 2,023 larcenies recorded in 2022. It’s also good practice to park in good areas, or you may join the 273 people who had their cars robbed over the year.

West Jordan also reported 386 violent crimes, which isn’t horrible for a city of 115,900. But it’s certainly nothing to be proud of either.

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