What are the top 5 safest blue states and red states in 2024 based on crime rates?

1. Why you won’t find one undisputed “top‑5” split by party

Multiple public rankings use different methods: WalletHub’s state safety index uses 52 indicators including crime, road safety and emergency preparedness, while ConsumerAffairs/OnFocus used five different metrics (violent crime, property crime, driving safety, public safety, climate safety) to create its 2024 list—so different methodologies produce different “top five” states and none of the provided sources publishes a simple top‑5 blue vs. top‑5 red list by raw crime rate alone ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

2. What major 2024 rankings say about the “safest” states

WalletHub’s 2024 ranking lists Vermont and New Hampshire at the top for overall state safety and highlights low violent‑crime indicators in those New England states ^[1]. ConsumerAffairs’ OnFocus/Newsweek coverage similarly says several of the top safest states are blue and located in the Northeast, and it notes New Jersey and Vermont among states with low overall crime measures in their composite scores ^{[2] [3]}.

3. How “blue” and “red” labels complicate interpretation

Think‑tank and press analyses show the party label of a state does not map cleanly to crime outcomes. The Manhattan Institute brief explains that county‑ and city‑level patterns differ from state aggregates: red states can look worse at the state level while Democratic areas can concentrate violent crime in blue cities inside red states, and adjusting for demographics shifts the relationship ^[5]. Independent commentators and local analyses echo that demographic, urbanicity and reporting differences matter ^[5].

4. Federal data and 2024 violent‑crime patterns reported in the press

FBI and aggregated reporting for 2024 indicate violent crime generally fell nationally in 2024, but the decline and distribution varied: Axios and other outlets report rural southern and western states (many Republican‑leaning) had some of the highest violent crime rates in 2024, with Alaska singled out for a very high violent‑crime rate in one analysis ^[4]. At the same time, some blue states contain cities with high rates, and several media analyses stress that many of the worst city rates were in Republican‑run states in 2024 ^{[4] [6]}.

5. Examples you can cite (but check methodology before claiming “top‑5”)

If you use composite rankings: WalletHub and related reporting place Vermont, New Hampshire and New Jersey among the safest states for 2024 ^{[1] [7]}. ConsumerAffairs/OnFocus reported that the top five safest states in their 2024 composite were all blue ^{[2] [3]}. By contrast, Axios’s analysis of FBI 2024 data found high violent‑crime rates concentrated in some rural southern and western states—including several Republican‑leaning states—underscoring that many of the highest state rates in 2024 were in red states ^[4].

6. Key caveats and competing perspectives

Don’t equate a composite “safest state” ranking with raw violent‑crime ranking: WalletHub and ConsumerAffairs include non‑crime metrics (financial safety, road safety, climate risk) that shift rankings ^{[1] [2]}. The Manhattan Institute warns that raw comparisons across parties are sensitive to geographic scale and to adjustments for age, income and racial composition—different analyses reach different conclusions depending on those choices ^[5]. Some outlets emphasize that big‑city crime patterns (often in blue cities) can skew state averages, while others point to rural red states with high per‑capita violent crime ^{[5] [4]}.

7. If you want a defensible “top‑5” list: how to proceed

Pick one data source and metric (for example, FBI violent‑crime rate per 100,000 or WalletHub’s composite index), state whether you’ll use state‑level or metro‑level figures, and then list the five lowest and five highest states by that metric. WalletHub’s 2024 state ranking and ConsumerAffairs’ 2024 report are ready‑made composites referenced above; FBI state violent‑crime data underpin Axios’s 2024 reporting about high rates in rural red states ^{[1] [2] [4]}.

8. Bottom line for readers

Available sources do not present a single authoritative top‑5 split of blue vs. red states by 2024 crime rates; different reputable rankings and analyses point in different directions depending on metric, geographic scale and demographic adjustment. Use a single, transparent dataset and state your methodology if you need a precise top‑5 list ^{[1] [2] [5]}.