Safest Places to Retire in Florida

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Florida’s total crime rate has gone down by 60% since 1998.

It has never been safer to live in Florida than it is right now.

Each year, the FBI releases crime data for all Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA’s) in the United States, including the 22 MSA’s in Florida.

I thought it would be interesting to crunch their numbers and see which places in Florida may actually be the safest to live and retire in.

The FBI data is broken down into 9 different categories:

• Violent crime
• Murder and non-negligent manslaughter
• Rape
• Robbery
• Aggravated assault
• Property Crime
• Burglary
• Larceny-theft
• Motor vehicle theft

The data is most easily digested when distilled into a “Rate per 100,000 inhabitants”.

So, to find the safest places to live and retire in Florida, we simply have to look at the areas with the lowest number of crime incidents (rate) per 100,000 inhabitants.

Before we get to the numbers though, keep in mind that a seemingly high crime rate for one M.S.A. does not mean the entire area is unsafe.

I’ve lived in areas #14 and #17 almost my entire life, and taken as a whole, I would certainly not consider them unsafe.

Crime tends to occur most frequently in the more densely populated areas, and most of the communities you’ll be looking at for retirement are outside of those areas.

I think what you’ll find that most 55+ communities are just as safe (or even safer due to lower populations) than even the “safest” M.S.A.’s as a whole. 

For a number of reasons, the FBI cautions against using their data to compile rankings, so try not to consider what follows as “rankings” per se.

Try to look at it as “I’ve just put them in order for you to make them easier to read”. 😉

	Metropolitan Statistical Area	Crimes Per 100,000 Inhabitants
1.	The Villages, FL M.S.A.	2,116
2.	Punta Gorda, FL M.S.A.	2,648
3.	Naples-Marco Island, FL M.S.A.	2,703
4.	Port St. Lucie, FL M.S.A.	3,246
5.	Homosassa Springs, FL M.S.A.	3,350
6.	Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL M.S.A.	3,414
7.	Sebastian-Vero Beach, FL M.S.A.	3,480
8.	Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL M.S.A.	4,123
9.	North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, FL M.S.A.	4,315
10.	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL M.S.A.	4,323
11.	Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL M.S.A.	4,509
12.	Ocala, FL M.S.A.	4,980
13.	Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL M.S.A.	5,027
14.	Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL M.S.A.	5,125
15.	Sebring-Avon Park, FL M.S.A.	5,236
16.	Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL M.S.A.	5,444
17.	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL M.S.A.	5,791
18.	Jacksonville, FL M.S.A.	6,147
19.	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL M.S.A.	6,418
20.	Gainesville, FL M.S.A.	6,917
21.	Panama City, FL M.S.A.	7,257
22.	Tallahassee, FL M.S.A.	7,733

“Florida’s Friendliest Hometown” is Also the Safest

The Villages calls itself “Florida’s Friendliest Hometown” and I’m not surprised at all to see that The Villages, FL M.S.A came out on top.

While The Villages M.S.A. does include some areas that are not within The Villages retirement community, most of it is comprised of 55+ residents peacefully enjoying the good life.

While there have been some high profile crimes in The Villages over the last decade, most of the crimes that take place there involve DUI’s, domestic disturbances, and theft.

How Do Other Popular Retirement Destinations Stack Up?

Maybe Florida isn’t the only state on your retirement radar.

To select the following locations I looked at what are normally considered the most popular retirement states, and then based my selections on the M.S.A.’s with the highest number of 55+ communities within them.

In some cases I had to exclude certain M.S.A.’s due to incomplete data.

For example, there are more 55+ communities in the Myrtle Beach, SC area than in the Hilton Head, SC area, but the FBI data was incomplete for Myrtle Beach so I felt it was unfair to include them here.

Here’s a look at how safe some other popular retirement destinations are around the country.

	Metropolitan Statistical Area	Crimes Per 100,000 Inhabitants
1.	Hilton Head Island-Bluffton, SC M.S.A.	4,355
2.	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD M.S.A.	4,726
3.	Richmond, VA M.S.A.	4,791
4.	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX M.S.A.	5,167
5.	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA M.S.A.	5,672
6.	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA M.S.A.	5,791
7.	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ M.S.A.	6,110
8.	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC M.S.A.	6,333

Thoughts or Comments?

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