Two Whatcom County cities ranked among the safest from crime in Washington state
Bellingham ranked among the top 10 safest large cities in Washington state based on its crime rates, while Everson was among the state’s safest small cities.
Small business research website AdvisorSmith dug into the crime rates from 180 cities within the state in February and then ranked them in three categories in its Safest Cities in Washington list.
Bellingham ranked 10th among the large cities (population of more than 50,000) behind No. 1 Sammamish.
Everson, meanwhile, was 9th among the small cities (population of less than 10,000) behind No. 1 Colville.
Here is where other Whatcom County cities ranked in the list:
▪ Lynden was No. 18 among midsize cities (population between 10,000 and 50,000).
▪ Sumas was No. 25 among small cities.
▪ Ferndale was No. 31 among midsize cities.
▪ Blaine was No. 63 among small cities.
Nooksack was not ranked.
AdvisorSmith studied data from the FBI’s 2019 Uniform Crime Report. It looked at the number of types of crime within each city and used a multiplier to weigh more violent crimes more heavily, according to the report. The study then summed up and adjusted for the population of each city to come up with a score.
According to the study, Bellingham had 10.4 violent crimes per 1,000 residents in 2019 and 29.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents. Among the 25 large cities in the survey, AdvisorSmirth found Bellingham was better than state averages of 12.7 violent crimes and 32.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents.
The other five Whatcom cities that were ranked showed:
▪ Everson had 3.8 violent crimes and 9.0 property crimes per 1,000 people.
▪ Lynden had 4.8 violent crimes and 17.4 property crimes per 1,000 people.
▪ Sumas had 3.9 violent crimes and 7.8 property crimes per 1,000 people.
▪ Ferndale had 7.8 violent crimes and 16.7 property crimes per 1,000 people.
▪ Blaine had 15.4 violent crimes and 14.6 property crimes per 1,000 people.
This story was originally published March 1, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
