Peace, Love & Happiness in Your City

(avg: 3.50 of 5)

New England states like Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire might get poked fun at now and then for being too hipster, outdoorsy or NRA-loving – but maybe these states are on to something.

The annual United States Peace Index was just released and it has these three states listed as the top three most peaceful states in which to live. The three least peaceful states? Nevada (48), Tennessee (49) and Louisiana (50).

Rankings are determined based upon five factors: the number of homicides per 100,000 people, number of violent crimes, incarceration rate, number of police employees and availability of small arms.

The good news: the survey shows that nationwide, there has been a 3.2% drop in homicides and 5.5% dip in violent crimes over the past two decades. This is important because the economic impact of crime is huge—it cost the nation’s economy approximately $460 billion last year alone. Costs include loss of productivity and state compensation for medical care for victims. A reduction in crime would funnel these resources to most productive uses.

According to the Index, the most peaceful cities are (from 1^st to 5^th)

• Cambridge, MA
• Edison/New Brunswick, NJ
• Seattle, WA
• St. Paul/Minneapolis, MN
• Peabody, MA

The least peaceful cities (from 1^st to 5^th)

• Detroit, MI
• New Orleans, LA
• Nashville, TN
• Miami, FL
• Baltimore, MD

It’s no surprise that the there is significant overlap between least peaceful cities and cities with the most violent crime. Topping the list of cities with violent crime: Detroit, Nashville, Las Vegas, Miami and Baltimore.

As a caveat, it should be noted that the Index really measures "metros" and not center cities--so inner-ring suburbs may be contributing to some of these rankings. (For instance, Cambridge's ranking is coupled with data from wealthy suburb Newton, MA.)

To see where your city (metro) or state falls on the index, visit the Vision of Humanity’s website, which published the rankings earlier this week.

What’s your city doing to combat crime and create a more peaceful environment for residents?

BY Amanda Maher on April 25th, 2012

TAGS: cities | crime | police | peaceful | index | cambridge | seattle | twin cities | detroit | new orleans | nashville | baltimore