(Valparaiso, FL) – The City of Valparaiso has been named one of Florida’s safest cities for 2014. Valparaiso was ranked the eighth safest small city in Florida, and the 10th safest overall in Florida by research firm ValuePenguin.
The City of Niceville was ranked number 15 in the state.
According to its website, analysts at ValuePenguin studied data from 2013 FBI crime statistics by city, which provides the most recent data available. The raw data report included violent crimes (murder/manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) and property crimes (burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson) from all law enforcement agencies that participate in the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting program.
ValuePenguin standardized the data to reflect violent and property crimes per 100,000, to account for population. They then aggregated a “crime score.”
The crime score for Valparaiso for 2014 was 217; Niceville’s crime score totaled 248.
Fort Walton Beach ranked 86th in Florida, with a score of 601. Crestview ranked 180th, with a score of 1,555. Not all communities were ranked. Locally, neither Destin nor Shalimar were ranked.
According to ValuePenguin, the safest city in Florida for 2014 was Indian Shores, with a crime score of just 73.
The complete list can be found here.
