Oneonta Climbs Up as 4th Safest City in New York: SafeWise 2025 Report
Oneonta holds a prestigious position within the top 10 safest cities in New York in a 2025 ranking by SafeWise. SafeWise, a home security and safety research firm, conducts annual safety surveys and rates cities within the state employing metrics such as property crime and violent crime rates. The ‘safest cities’ list includes not just cities but also some towns with populations exceeding 15,000.
According to SafeWise’s most recent State of Safety Report, New Yorkers’ concerns about their safety and security showed a decrease compared to the previous year. In a noteworthy development, only 47% of New York residents expressed daily worries about general crime and safety scenarios, a significant drop from 59% recorded in the previous annual report.
In the list of cities, Oneonta stood as the singular entrant from its regional sector to be featured within the top 10, capturing the fourth position on the safety scale. Following is a brief description of how other nearby locations performed with respect to their safety rankings within New York state.
Landing in fourth place, Oneonta boasts a surprisingly low violent crime rate of 0.24 per 1,000 residents along with a property crime rate of 4.42 per 1,000 residents, marking it as the fourth safest city in New York state, as per SafeWise’s records.
Another note-worthy entrant, the Town of Vestal, claimed the 23rd position in the safety rankings, showing a violent crime rate of 0.47 per 1,000 citizens and a property crime rate of 20.77 per 1,000 citizens.
Meanwhile, the City of Elmira didn’t trail far behind, securing the 26th position with a violent crime rate of 3.21 occurrences per 1,000 Elmira’s residents, as well as a property crime rate of 14.69 per 1,000 Elmira’s citizens.
A little further down the list was the City of Cortland, positionally ranked as the 40th safest with a violent crime rate of 3.49 and a property crime rate of 32.24, both rates per 1,000 inhabitants of the city.
The City of Binghamton trailed the list, ranking 49th within the total 53 ranked municipalities. SafeWise’s evaluation pointed out Binghamton’s violent crime rate as 6.63 per 1,000 citizens, accompanied by a staggering property crime rate of 35.98 incidences per 1,000 residents.
Despite claiming a lower place in these rankings, there exists a silver lining for the City of Binghamton. Data from New York State records reveal a decrease in violent crimes reported by the City of Binghamton’s Police Department, from 316 incidents in 2023 to 272 in 2024. The record for 2025, however, wasn’t available at the time of this report.
An alarming trend has, conversely, been identified for the same city. A state report from May 2025 highlighted Binghamton as experiencing an increase in shooting incidents and shooting victims during the early months of the year (January-April). Such an increase contrasts with the same timeframe the previous year, 2024.
Presented by SafeWise, the top 10 safest cities in New York are as follows: Bedford, Carmel, Rye, Oneonta, Hyde Park, East Fishkill, Scarsdale, Yorktown, Saugerties, and the Town of Ogden.
Evidently, safety remains a topic of paramount importance for New Yorker’s, which is reflected in people’s perceptions about crime and safety within their cities. Year-on-year decreases in reported crimes provide hope, yet certain trends shed light on the continuous work to be done to ensure peace of mind for all residents.
The mission to ensure safer communities is a constant one, embracing collaboration between residents, city officials, and law enforcement agencies. However, the issue’s complex nature necessitates a multi-faceted approach to tackle crime effectively. In this light, these rankings serve not only to reward low-crime areas but also to illuminate the path toward improvement for all communities.