Maricopa dropped three rankings in a recent “Top Ten Safest Cities” survey, falling from number seven to 10th on the list. 

The report, created by online safety site SafeWise, pulled statistics from 2024 FBI crime data and did not incorporate Maricopa Police Department’s 2025 or 2026 crime statistics. SafeWise is an online safety site that compiles research and data into digestible — often ranked — surveys for the public. 

But this is just one of many ways to dissect public safety data, according to Maricopa’s police chief.   

“Rankings are one way of examining public-safety data, but no single ranking captures every aspect of a community or the work being done to keep it safe,” said Chief Mark Goodman. 

The survey also included data on overall crime types in Arizona. According to the survey, nearly 56% of Arizonans are concerned about property crime, making it the sixth most concerned state in the union. 

While Maricopa’s violent crime rate in 2024 decreased from 2.6 to 2.3 incidents per 1,000 residents, its property crime rate increased from 8.0 to 9.2 per 1,000 residents. 

MPD’s Criminal Investigations Division saw its workload increase, as did criminal indictments by 67%.  This included complex criminal cases assigned to detectives — such as missing teens, a multi-state fraud scheme and a narcotics operation — rising 23.7%, from 384 in 2024 to 475 in 2025.   

During MPD’s annual report presentation in April, Goodman said the numbers reflect the city’s investment in public safety.   

“When the city invests in public safety capacity, the community receives a return in safety, service and stability,” he said, adding the drop in crime is a “meaningful public safety outcome in a rapidly growing city.”  

Also included in the list were Buckeye, Gilbert and a handful of other cities across the state. San Luis, a city located along the Arizona-Mexico border, was named the safest city in Arizona with just 0.9 violent crimes and 5.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents.