Is Living in Florida Safe?

Florida Crime Rates Compared to Other States

I found that most people move to Florida have no idea that the state suffers from a high crime rate. Florida’s crime rate is the 45th worst out of the 50 states according to usa.com. So you may be increasing your chances of becoming a crime victim by moving to “paradise” without even realizing it because you may be moving from a state with a lower overall crime rate, to Florida. Please note that crime rates can change with annual reporting, but Florida usually remains in the bottom 50% of states.

As a tourist in Florida you may have seen police cars or an ambulance with flashing lights and siren blaring go speeding by. But usually we have no idea what happened, because we generally don’t read the local newspaper or watch local nightly news on TV while on vacation. We’re too busy trying to cram in all the normal tourist fun things we can in the limited time we’ll be there.

After we move to Florida, we will learn what is going on around us. If we’ve unknowingly moved to a town with a much higher crime rate than where we previously moved from, that could negatively affect our quality of life in our new home state that you may have spent a lot of time and money to move to.

Do All Towns and Cities in Florida Suffer From High Crime Rates?

Of course not. There are towns in Florida that have crime rates that are lower than the national average.

In order for any town or city to qualify for any of this website’s best places to live in Florida lists, the municipality must have property and violent crime rates that are lower than the national average, according to data from FBI national public reporting.

All of our best place choices not only score higher in most quality of life factors when compared to the rest of Florida. Most also enjoy some of the lowest crime rates in the country.

How to Maker Better Decisions When Moving To Florida

The more factual information you become aware of before making a decision to move to Florida, the better your decision will likely be. Realizing high rates of violent crime can happen where there are beaches, sunshine and palm trees can help prevent folks from making an expensive decision that they may latter regret and then feel compelled to spend even more money to correct it. Would you intentionally move from where you live now to another area near you, that you know has a much higher crime rate? Of course not, if you can help it. So why do so many people move where the crime rates are higher when they move to Florida?

Crime, safety and leaving your home to go shopping or other every day activities.

How safe would you feel in your new community if this happened while you were grocery shopping?

Safety and moving to Florida with school-age children

This video shows why it’s so important to learn a town’s crime rates before choosing where to live and send your kids to school. I would seek the facts and be careful not to rely on a salesperson’s opinion that may be contrary to the facts.

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  • Want to be certain if moving to Florida is right for you or your family? You’ll know after reading the Florida Move Guide.