Alaska’s Safest Cities of 2024

See crime rates for the safest cities.

Alaska’s safest city of 2024—Sitka—is also the only newcomer to the top five. Last year's chart-topper Unalaska slid to second place. But it's not just folks in these cities that have reason to celebrate. Overall, Alaskans expressed lower levels of worry about crime and safety, with daily concern dipping 10% year over year, as per our State of Safety survey.

We didn't have enough data to calculate statewide crime rates for Alaska this year, but the collective crime rates of the safest cities saw drops year over year, which can be an indicator that crime overall is on the decline in The Last Frontier.

The five safest cities in the state had a collective property crime rate of 8.0 incidents per 1,000 people, down from 9.9 in last year's report. Violent crime in Alaska's safest cities registered at 2.0 incidents per 1,000—a dramatic 56% drop year over year.

Last year, Alaska experienced a 49% decrease in property crime—the largest in the nation and dropping Alaska below the national property crime rate for the first time since we started tracking the safest cities.

Results from our State of Safety survey don't necessarily reflect the same downward trend: 32% of Alaskan respondents said they had experienced a property crime in the 12 months prior to the survey, matching the prior year's results.

• Alaska has the tenth-highest number of people who reported a personal experience with property crime in the US.
• 43% of Alaskans are highly concerned about safety on a daily basis, down from 49% in last year's report, making Alaska the fifth least-concerned state.
• 41% of Alaska residents reported experiencing package theft in our latest survey, which is 6 percentage points higher than the national average and 11% higher than last year.
• Nearly 1 in 4 (24%) Alaskans increased their security measures in the 12 months prior to the survey, 11 points lower than the rest of the US.
• The most popular forms of property protection among Alaskans are firearms (46%), security cameras (41%), and guard dogs (38%).

Alaskans worry less than the average American about violent crime (35% AK, 47% US), and their concern has decreased by 10% year-over-year. Contrarily, Alaska has the fifth-highest percentage of residents who experienced violent crime in the 12 months prior to our survey.

• The safest cities in Alaska have a collective violent crime rate of 2.0 per 1,000 people (US 4.0).
• Alaska's crime rate last year was 5.5 per 1,000, compared to the national rate of 4.0.
• 64 total violent crimes were reported by the safest cities, with one homicide reported.
• Rape made up 13% of the crimes reported in the safest cities, and aggravated assault was the most-reported violent crime, making up 75%.
• 21% of Alaskans told us they had a personal experience with violent crime in the 12 months prior to the survey—a startling 75% jump year over year.
• 43% of Alaska residents use some form of personal protection (US 36%) with pocket knives leading the way (47%).
• Despite signs that violent crime may be declining, only 38% of Alaskans say they feel safe in their state.

• In our latest State of Safety survey, 35% of Alaskans told us that they worried about gun violence, which represents a 10% decrease in concern year-over-year. 
• 12% of Alaskans experienced a gun violence incident in the 12 months prior to the survey—matching the national average but a 71% increase compared to the previous year.
• 0 mass shooting events occurred in Alaska in 2023, matching the previous two reporting uyears.
• Firearms are the most common form of property protection (46%) and second-most used type of personal protection (44%) in Alaska.
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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.

• 12 Alaskan cities met the criteria to be considered for ranking.
• Two of the safest cities are new to the top 5 this year: Sitka (1) and Kodiak (4).
• Ketchikan and Unalaska held on to their safest cities status from last year, with Ketchikan moving up one place to third and Unalaska sliding from first to second.

• Each city in our top 5 reported property crimes below the national average.
• 4 of the 5 safest cities in Alaska reported fewer than 10 property crimes per 1,000 people.
• Ketchikan and Kodiak fell into single digits for property crime rates for the first time in 3 years—with Ketchikan dropping from 30.1 in 2022 to 9.3 this year.
• Sitka is the only safest city to report 0 burglaries.
• Every city on our list reported fewer than 100 total property crimes, with 75 in Homer being the most of any city we ranked.

• Except for Homer, which reported 1, Alaska's safest cities reported 0 murders during the 2024 reporting year.
• Each of the top 5 cities reported fewer than 25 total violent crimes.
• Sitka had the lowest violent crime rate (1.0) and the lowest property crime rate (4.3).

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Find all endnotes and sources in our full methodology.

FBI Crime Data Explorer, "Documents & Downloads." Accessed March 18, 2024.

• 2022 and 2021 Crime in the United States Annual Reports
  • Offenses Known to Law Enforcement
• 2022 NIBRS Estimation Tables

Bureau of Justice Statistics, "National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)." Accessed March 18, 2024.

Gun Violence Archive, "Mass Shootings." Accessed March 18, 2023.