This Oregon city among safest in the U.S. for trick-or-treating

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Halloween is known for scary and spooky decorations, but when it comes to trick-or-treating, parents want their kids to feel safe. 

Chamber of Commerce, an organization devoted to supporting small businesses and researching communities, recently conducted a study on which cities in America are the safest for trick-or-treating. 

The study looked at factors such as pedestrian fatalities, violent crime, law enforcement per capita and sex offenders per capita across more than 300 cities and ranked them with a score. 

With this information, it put together a list of the 25 safest cities for trick-or-treating in 2022 and Hillsboro, Oregon made the list. 

Hillsboro ranked number 21 and stood out because of its low number of registered sex offenders, high number of law enforcement employees and safe streets for pedestrians. 

The study looked at these three factors, plus violent crime and property crime, in each city per capita. 

The data show that Hillsboro has 24 registered sex offenders per 100,000 people, 190 violent crime incidents per 100,000 people, 1,837 property crime incidents per 100,000 people, 1.85 pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 people, and 168 law enforcement employees per 100,000 people. 

Below is the list of the top 25 safest cities for trick-or-treating: 

1. Gilbert, AZ
2. Cambridge, MA 
3. Cary, NC 
4. Naperville, IL 
5. Rochester, MN
6. Irvine, CA 
7. Scottsdale, AZ
8. Carlsbad, CA 
9. Glendale, CA 
10. Stamford, CT 
11. Centennial, CO 
12. Boulder, CO 
13. Miramar, FL 
14. College Station, TX 
15. Bellevue, WA
16. Pembroke Pines, FL 
17. Chandler, AZ 
18. Burbank, CA 
19. Overland Park, KS 
20. Sunnyvale, CA 
21. Hillsboro, OR 
22. Surprise, AZ 
23. Peoria, AZ 
24. Torrance, CA 
25. Murrieta, CA 

For the study, the Chamber of Commerce analyzed more than 300 census-defined places with a population of 100,000 or more. 

To calculate the average number of pedestrian fatalities, the Chamber of Commerce used data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Violent crime and property crime statistics were calculated using the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer. Registered sex offenders were calculated using the FBI’s National Sex Offender Registry and the number of law enforcement employees was calculated using the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program. 

Each factor was worth 20 points and each city was given a weighted average score.