So I was looking into affordable and safe places to live in the US, and stumbled on this interesting analysis that ranked 150+ cities by crime rates and cost of living. Pretty eye-opening stuff.

Turns out Ohio dominates the list—7 out of the top 15 affordable and safe places to live are there. New Philadelphia tops it at around $35.5k annual cost of living with a violent crime rate of just 0.69 per 1,000 people. New Ulm, Minnesota is another standout with the lowest violent crime rate (0.29 per 1,000) and annual costs around $36.4k.

The sweet spot seems to be towns with 10k-50k population. You're looking at monthly mortgages ranging from roughly $1,100 to $1,800, depending on the location. San Elizario, Texas had the lowest home values at around $167k, while some of the safer Midwest options pushed closer to $300k.

What's interesting is that livability scores (measuring quality of life factors) don't always correlate with price. Some of the cheapest spots had lower livability ratings, while places like Edwardsville, Illinois and Trenton, Michigan scored higher on both affordability and safety metrics.

If you're serious about finding affordable and safe places to live without breaking the bank, the Midwest definitely offers the best combinations. The data was collected around early 2025, so prices might've shifted a bit, but the patterns are solid. Worth checking out if you're considering a move.