The State of Safety in Nevada 2022

The SafeWise team is pleased to release the fourth annual State of Safety report.

Nevada reports higher daily concern about crime and safety than most of the country. In fact, The Silver State is the fourth-most-concerned state in the nation, with six in 10 people worrying about their safety every day. On the flip side, only 4 in 10 Nevadans feel safe in their state.

• Violent crime rates
• Property crime rates
• The Safest Cities
• Methodology
• How to make a safe home anywhere
• How other states compare

Although Nevada’s crime rates have historically been higher than national averages, both violent and property crime have been declining. In fact, this year Nevada dips below the national property crime rate, reporting 19.3 incidents per 1,000 people versus 19.6 nationwide. 

Nevada reported fewer violent crimes per capita this year—making it one of just a dozen states where both the violent and property crime rates fell. But Nevada still landed higher than the national violent crime rate, with 4.6 incidents per 1,000 versus 4.0 nationwide. 

Despite a downward trend in crime rates statewide, 72% of Nevadans think crime is rising. Across the country, only 66% believe crime is on the rise.

Nevadans expressed higher daily concern about every crime and safety category than most of the US, according to our most recent State of Safety report. Those higher numbers didn’t translate to actual experience with crime, though. 

Nevada came in at or below national averages for all crime experiences except package theft. Nearly one in four Nevadans reported a package theft in the past 12 months prior to the survey, compared to one in five nationwide. 

Violent crime experience in The Silver State matches the national average, with 10% of survey respondents telling us they had an incident in the year prior to the survey. Both property crime and gun violence experiences were below national averages. 

Experience with gun violence fell 10 percentage points year over year, which makes sense as time puts more distance between Nevadans and the tragic mass shooting at the Mandalay Bay in 2017. The previous survey specifically asked about any experience with a mass shooting, which most likely accounted for the larger affirmative response.

We asked Nevada residents which crimes they worry may happen to them. See if Nevadans are concerned about the same crime issues as the rest of the country.

View the complete 2022 State of Safety report.

Violent crime is the most worrisome crime issue in Nevada, although the state saw drops in both its violent crime rate and the number of survey respondents who experienced a violent crime in the past year.

• Year over year, Nevada’s violent crime rate fell 6% from 5.0 incidents per 1,000 to 4.6.
• Nevada is one of just 12 states that saw a drop in both violent and property crime year over year. 
• Aggravated assault is the most prevalent violent crime in Nevada, making up 67% of all reported incidents, compared to 70% nationally.
• 50% of survey respondents are worried about a gun violence incident happening to them—32% higher than the national average of 38%.
• Mass shooting incidents increased from 4 in 2020 to 5 last year.
• 37% say they use some kind of personal safety protection like pepper spray—3 percentage points higher than the national average. 
• 50% say their personal safety has been affected by the pandemic, compared to 44% nationwide.

Property crime has decreased each of the past three years, but Nevadans still worry more about property crime on a daily basis than most Americans.

• 53% say they worry about becoming a victim of property crime, compared to 42% across the US. 
• Property crime experiences fell from 22% in our last reporting year to 16%.
• The statewide property crime rate dropped 17%— from 23.3 incidents per 1,000 to 19.3 year over year. 
• Larceny-theft makes up 63% of all property crime in Nevada, compared to 71% nationwide. 
• Burglaries account for 19% of all property crimes—3 percentage points higher than the national proportion of 16%.
• 7 in 10 survey respondents use some kind of security measure to protect their Nevada property, with most of them (41%) using security cameras.
• 34% think the security of their property has been impacted by the pandemic (US 29%).

For the purposes of this report, the terms “dangerous” and “safest” refer explicitly to crime rates as calculated from FBI crime data—no other characterization of any community is implied or intended.

We couldn’t rank the safest cities in Nevada this year due to limited information reported to the FBI. Only seven cities provided data to the FBI in 2020 (the most recent year for which data is available). Crime rates for those cities are detailed below.

Learn how we identified the safest cities on our methodology page.

Whether your city made our list or not, we encourage everyone to be proactive about home security. One of the best ways to stop a burglary before it happens is to add a home security system.

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois

Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana

Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania

Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

Click on the state image or dropdown menu below to check out the safest cities for each state.

• Best Home Security Systems
• Best Home Security Cameras
• Best Video Doorbell Cameras
• Burglary Stats & Facts
• The Most Burglarized City in Every State

FBI: Crime Data Explorer, Accessed March 8, 2022.

US Census Bureau, "Data Explorer," Accessed January 24, 2022.

Best Places, “Find a Place Search Tool,” Accessed January 24, 2022.

SafeWise, “2021 State of Safety survey,” Accessed March 8, 2022.

Gun Violence Archive, “Past Summary Ledgers,” Accessed January 24, 2022.

Gun Violence Archive, “General Methodology,” Accessed March 8, 2022.

Melody Hicks, Ben Stickle, Joshua Harms, American Journal of Criminal Justice, “Assessing the Fear of Package Theft,” January 04, 2021. Accessed March 8, 2022.

For definitions and more on data sources, see our methodology page.