Why People Perceive Some Cities as Safer Than Others

Why do people feel safer in some cities than others? Is it a function of actual crime or of other factors that shape the way we perceive cities?

Crime, especially violent crime, varies considerably across U.S. cities and metro areas (as well as within them), with some posting record lows last year and other surging to record or near-record highs. But, a wide range of studies suggest that perceptions of safety are conditioned by other obvious and less obvious factors that effectively signal community safety. The infamous "broken windows" theory outlined by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling (in a 1982 issue of The Atlantic) suggests a close connection between neighborhood conditions and actual crime as well as perceptions of it. "Social psychologists and police officers tend to agree that if a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken," they wrote. "This is as true in nice neighborhoods as in rundown ones."