For the fifth consecutive year, Bristol was ranked as the safest town in Rhode Island.

The ranking comes courtesy of Safewise, a consumer advocacy group that analyzes and contextualizes national crime and safety trends to show how they affect communities. They recently released their 2024 rankings of the safest towns in each state, and Bristol earned the top spot among the 18 Rhode Island communities that met Safewise’s criteria to be considered for ranking.

It is also the fifth consecutive year South Kingstown has been named second safest. Cumberland and North Kingstown took the third and fourth slots, while East Providence climbed four spots to take the fifth spot and round out the top five safest cities in Rhode Island.

To identify the safest cities of 2024, Safewise reviewed 2022 FBI crime report statistics (the most recent complete report available at the time of ranking) and population data. Cities that fell below identified population thresholds, or that failed to submit a complete crime report to the FBI, were excluded from the report.

Notably, the violent crime rate in the safest cities is 0.6 incidents per 1,000 people, which is 70 percent lower than the state rate of 2 per 1,000; all of the safest cities reported fewer than 30 violent crimes each; the safest cities collectively reported 68 percent fewer robberies than the state overall; and the property crime rate in the safest cities is 6.1 incidents per 1,000 people, 54 percent lower than the state rate of 13.1 per 1,000.

“I want to thank our unwavering town leadership for their continued guidance in concert with the residents of Bristol and, most importantly, the dedicated men and women of the Bristol Police Department both sworn and civilian support staff for their professionalism and hard work to garner this achievement,” Police Chief Kevin Lynch said.