SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City has fallen to #58 on this year's U.S. News and World Report's list determining which city is the best place to live.
This comes after landing in the 23rd spot on the list in both 2021 and 2022. The list contains the 150 most populous metro areas across the country.
The rankings on based on five categories: job market, quality of life, value, net migration and desirability.
Overall, Salt Lake City scored 6.3 out of 10 in those categories.
Lindsey Faber has lived in Salt Lake most of her life.
"I moved away for about four years for college and then I came back during the pandemic," said Faber.
On a warm, spring Tuesday, Faber chose to enjoy the outdoors with her dog, Berkley.
"I think it's a perfect place if you love to be outside, which I currently am," said Faber. "I think the amount of outdoor opportunities it has, I feel like sometimes when you're in a big city you miss those things."
However, researchers found that Salt Lake had not only a lower education score, but also a higher crime rate than similarly sized metro areas.
The list placed Salt Lake as 11th when it comes to most dangerous places, above cities like Denver, Houston and St. Louis on the list.
Memphis and Albuquerque topped the list for most dangerous places at 1st and 2nd respectively.
The list looked at violent and property crime rates in 2020, per 100,000 people.
It showed that 238 violent crimes were committed per 100,000 people in Salt Lake City, which is below the national average, according to the report.
However, Salt Lake exceeded the national average when it comes to property crimes, at more than 2,400 per 100,000 people.
"It does definitely surprise me, but I could see that happening just because of Salt Lake growing so fast and when there's more people, there's more opportunity for those kinds of things," said Faber.
Nearly two weeks ago, the Salt Lake City Police Department claimed its violent crime reduction plan is working.
"Overall crime in Salt Lake City is the lowest it's been in seven years," SLCPD Chief Mike Brown said on May 3.
Police department officials, along with Mayor Erin Mendenhall, gave an update on the data-driven plan, which is meant to target violent crime in Utah's capital city.
The latest update provided on May 3 showed that violent crime city-wide is down 16.4%.
According to numbers from the department's crime control plan, city-wide property crimes were down nearly 15 percent from September 2021 through September 2022.
FOX 13 News reached out to SLCPD for a comment on this report, and they sent the following response:
It's important to note the critical flaws in this ranking. This article, and its rankings, do not accurately reflect crime trends in Salt Lake City.
- They are using 2020 data to establish a ranking for 2023 and 2024.
- Further, it appears they are measuring the Salt Lake City metro area -- and not exclusively SLC.
By using the SLC metro area, they are comparing us to cities like Pittsburgh and Charlotte, which are not comparable cities.
As you're likely aware, Salt Lake City was part of a nationwide trend of increasing crime during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Most major cities around the country are still seeing crime spikes.
However, Salt Lake City has taken aggressive steps to reduce crime since that time. Today, total crime in Salt Lake City is as low as it’s been in seven years.
The Salt Lake City Police Department's Crime Control Plan continues to evolve and has made a positive impact on crime rates. Stratified Policing is a recent example of this evolution. Our partnerships at the state and federal level through Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) have taken nearly 300 of the most violent criminals off Salt Lake City streets since its inception in 2021.
In 2022, Salt Lake City saw a 3.4% reduction in violent crime when compared to 2021, and overall crime was down 9.3% when compared to 2021.
So far in 2023, crime continues to drop as we have seen a 7.8% reduction in violent crime, year to date, when compared to 2022; and, overall crime is down 13.9% year to date.
Furthermore, to give you a more accurate look at crime based on population - per 100,000 residents, Salt Lake City has seen:
- A 15% drop in overall crime from Jan 1 - April 16, 2022 - to 2023.
Additionally, overall crime, per 100,000 residents, in Salt Lake City has:
- Dropped 21% in 2023 compared to the 2-year-average and
- Dropped 23% when compared to the 9-year average.
Ignoring current crime statistics and focusing on data not exclusively to Salt Lake City from three years ago is a disservice to the officers and professional staff of the Salt Lake City Police Department who have worked hard and continue to work hard to keep our community safe.
These types of ranking systems are often overly broad and fail to capture the nuances and complexities of crime trends. They further perpetuate misunderstandings about crime and fail to address solutions taken by law enforcement, specifically here in Salt Lake City.
