Half of Missouri’s 2026 Safest Cities Near Crime Capital?

I will make a wild guess that 98% of the rest of the state will not view the new safest Missouri cities for 2026 list the way I am. I find it interesting that exactly half of the top 10 safest cities list is located near what the rest of America wants us to believe is the murder capital of the world.

First of all, I applaud Safewise for highlighting the safest cities in Missouri instead of dealing dirt on the most dangerous ones. Their choices are based on a number of good safety metrics that make sense. They say they decided this safest Missouri list with the "most recent FBI-reported violent and property crime data, and adjust for population so we can compare cities of different sizes fairly". I want you to see the map they shared revealing the top 10 safest cities in Missouri. Pay special attention to the 5 cities clustered together that have something in common. I'll give you two guesses, but you'll only need one.

Yes, #1 Cottleville, #4 Glendale, #6 O'Fallon, #7 Ballwin and #10 Warrenton are all near St. Louis which the national media wants us to think is the "murder capital of America". This backs up what I've said for years about the majority of the St. Louis suburbs are among the best places to live in the state. Are there dangerous places in the city? Of course there are, but I've never had any bad situations during any of my visits to the big city including at least a zillion trips to St. Louis Cardinals games.

The sad thing is that most people won't get nearly as excited about the safest cities in Missouri as they would when it comes to the most dangerous. Human nature sadly wants to wallow in the mud instead of celebrate the good things. I'll gladly share it, though, because we need to change the narrative about the general St. Louis area and it's relative safety.