Arizona Suburbs Ranked in National Safety Study
A recent study by SmartAsset analyzed 360 U.S. suburbs within a 45-minute drive of a major city, ranking them based on safety metrics including violent crime, property crime, drug overdose rates, traffic fatalities, and excessive drinking.The results, published in late August 2025, reveal a mixed safety profile for Arizona suburbs.
Rio Rico, located south of Tucson, was identified as the safest suburb in Arizona and ranked 42nd nationally. Gold Canyon, east of Mesa, followed closely in 82nd place, while Vail, also near Tucson, secured the 139th position.
Of the ten Arizona suburbs evaluated, nine ranked below the national average for overall safety. Green Valley (No. 182), Surprise (No. 204), Maricopa (No. 206), Oro Valley (No. 224),Peoria (No. 238), Marana (No. 248),Sahuarita (No. 253), Apache junction (No. 276), and Tempe (No. 327) comprised the remaining Arizona locations analyzed.
Notably, five Arizona cities – Mesa, Scottsdale, Gilbert, Glendale, and Chandler – alongside Phoenix and Tucson, now rank among the top 100 cities nationally, indicating a broader trend of urban safety in the state.
The study highlighted that seven of the ten Arizona suburbs analyzed demonstrated better violent crime scores than Lehi, Utah, the top-ranked suburb overall. Furthermore, five Arizona suburbs matched or exceeded Lehi’s performance in terms of low property crime rates.
Though, Arizona suburbs were negatively impacted by higher rates of traffic fatalities. The state recorded the seventh-highest number of traffic deaths nationally in 2023, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Jaclyn DeJohn of SmartAsset noted the ironic benefit of congested traffic in cities like New York and Boston, stating, “Stop-and-go traffic does have some benefits.”
Excessive alcohol consumption also contributed to lower rankings for Arizona suburbs. While only 9.4% of adults in Lehi reported occasional heavy or binge drinking, between 19% and 20% of residents in the analyzed Arizona suburbs reported similar behavior. These alcohol consumption figures were sourced from both specific suburban surveys and broader county-level data.the study indicated that drug overdose deaths were concentrated in the five Tucson suburbs within Pima County: Vail, Green Valley, Marana, Oro Valley, and Sahuarita.