These are Missouri's 10 safest cities for 2025, according to Safewise
MISSOURI – Home security company Safewise recently released its annual 'Safest Cities in Missouri' list for 2025.
The list is created by examining crime rates calculated by the FBI. Safewise also evaluates results from a 'state of safety' survey to gauge how residents perceive crime and safety in their communities.
This year, the 'Safest Cities' list for Missouri features five of its Top 10 cities from the Greater St. Louis Metropolitan Area, including the Top 2 ranked cities.
From 10 to 1, here's a closer look…
10. Lake St. Louis9. Eureka8. Higginsville7. Crystal City6. Nixa5. Odessa4. Savannah3. Greenwood2. Cottleville1. Glendale
According to Safewise, the safest city in Missouri is Glendale in St. Louis County. Just behind it was Cottleville in St. Charles County, which was named Missouri's safest city in the previous two annual rankings.
FBI, police excavate south St. Louis yard in search for missing person
The Top 10 safest cities all reported fewer than 1.1 violent crimes per 1,000 residents. Glenadale had a violent crime rate of 0.2 per 1,000 residents and a property crime rate of 3.5 per 1,000 residents. Both of those were among the best rates in the state.
As for Missouri, Safewise reports a 7% decrease in violent crime compared to last year and that more than half of measured cities (139 total) saw year-over-year decreases in violent crime and property crime.
Additionally, the following St. Louis-area cities finished within the Top 20 featured cities…
Ballwin (11)
Ellisville (12)
O'Fallon (13)
Webster Groves (14)
Ladue (15)
Manchester (17)
Clayton (20)
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
20 minutes ago
- Fox News
Spy surge sparks Trump visa crackdown on Chinese students
The Trump administration has intensified its scrutiny of Chinese nationals studying at U.S. universities after several instances in recent years of students from the communist country engaging in alleged surreptitious activity while in the United States. The incidents, which have involved allegations of espionage, conspiracy and misleading federal officials, occurred as a result of Chinese nationals or others with Chinese ties participating in joint education programs between the United States and China. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security plan to "aggressively revoke" student visas of Chinese nationals, "including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party." A Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson blasted the new policy in a statement Thursday on X, saying the move was "fully unjustified" and damaging to the United States' reputation. "Citing ideology and national security as a pretext, the move seriously hurts the lawful rights and interests of international students from China and disrupts people-to-people exchanges between the two countries," spokesperson Lin Jian said. Nearly 300,000 Chinese nationals have student visas in the United States. It is unclear if the State Department plans to target all of them or only some. Fox News Digital reached out to the department for clarity. Below is a look at some recent incidents involving Chinese nationals at universities. The DOJ brought charges against five University of Michigan students last year after a sergeant major encountered them at Camp Grayling in 2023. The students had cameras with them and were discovered as the U.S. National Guard was conducting a massive training operation at the site with Taiwanese military members, according to a complaint. They were all Chinese nationals attending the University of Michigan as part of the school's joint program with a Shanghai-based university, an FBI official wrote in the complaint, noting some of them had taken photos of Camp Grayling's military installations and operations. The FBI asked the court to issue arrest warrants for the students for making false statements and destroying records. Two Chinese nationals who were graduate students at the University of Michigan pleaded guilty in 2020 after they were caught illegally entering and photographing defense infrastructure at a naval air station in Key West, Florida. Fengyun Shi, a Chinese national studying at the University of Minnesota, was convicted in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia last year of unlawfully using a drone to take photos of naval bases in Norfolk, Virginia. Shi was sentenced to six months in prison and a year of supervised release, and the Biden administration revoked his visa in response to the charges. ICE announced in May that it deported him to China. While not a Chinese national, Charles Lieber, former chair of Harvard's chemistry department, was convicted in 2021 of making false statements to authorities and failing to report income from his work with China's Wuhan University of Technology and a contract he had with China's Thousand Talents Program. Ji Chaoqun, a Chinese national and one-time student at the Illinois Institute of Technology, was sentenced to eight years in prison after he was convicted by a jury in 2022 of attempting to commit espionage and theft of trade secrets. Ji was found to have gathered information on defense contractors, engineers and others as part of a broader effort by high-level Chinese intelligence officials to obtain inside access to U.S. technology advancements. Rubio's announcement also comes after Harvard filed a lawsuit alleging the Trump administration improperly banned all foreign nationals from the Ivy League school by revoking its student visa certification. A judge temporarily blocked the administration from carrying out the ban as the case plays out in the courts. ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons told Harvard in a letter made public through court filings that the revocation was a result of the alleged prevalence of antisemitism on campus but also a result of the administration's "serious concerns" that the university has "coordinated with the Chinese Communist Party." Lyons cited several examples, including Harvard accepting $151 million from foreign donors since 2020, working with "China-based academics" on projects funded by an "Iranian government agent," partnering with Chinese universities and using public funds to do so and collaborating with people "linked to China's defense-industrial base." "This coordination is a valid and substantive reason for withdrawing Harvard University's [Student Exchange Visitor Program] certification to enroll foreign students," Lyons wrote. Harvard attorneys argued during a court hearing Thursday that the Trump administration did not give the university a chance to rebut the claims about antisemitism and CCP ties before the foreign student ban was enacted. The administration agreed to give Harvard one month to respond to those claims while the ban remains on hold.
Fox News
21 minutes ago
- Fox News
Chinese official claims no knowledge of fungus situation, says China requires citizens ‘abide by local laws'
A Chinese embassy official said Wednesday he was unaware of the case involving two Chinese nationals charged with smuggling a "dangerous biological pathogen" into the U.S. for university research. "I don't know the specific situation, but I would like to emphasize that the Chinese government has always required overseas Chinese citizens to abide by local laws and regulations and will also resolutely safeguard their legitimate rights and interests," said Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Embassy in the U.S. The statement came after University of Michigan research fellows Yunqing Jian and Zunyong Liu – who are also boyfriend and girlfriend – were charged with smuggling Fusarium graminearum fungus into the U.S. within the jurisdiction of the Eastern District of Michigan. Fusarium graminearum is considered a "potential agroterrorism weapon" by the Justice Department and can cause noxious "head blight" on cereal grain crops. The fungus causes $1 billion in global damage to crops each year, according to the feds. The FBI is conducting the investigation along with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. While Liu appeared to deny knowledge of the case, Jian allegedly received funding from the CCP for her work on the fungus inside China. China was also determined by several entities to be the culprit for the release of the coronavirus pathogen that caused a global pandemic in 2020. FBI Director Kash Patel said the fungus involved poses a serious national security threat to the domestic food supply. CBP Director of Field Operations Marty Raybon said the criminal charges levied against Jian and Liu "are indicative of CBP's critical role in protecting the American people from biological threats that could devastate our agricultural economy and cause harm to humans…" The University of Michigan also responded to the incident, saying that "as one of the world's leading public research institutions, [it] is dedicated to advancing knowledge, solving challenging problems and improving nearly every facet of the human experience. Our research enterprise across all three campuses is united in this commitment to serving the people of Michigan and the world." "We strongly condemn any actions that seek to cause harm, threaten national security or undermine the university's critical public mission," the university said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital. "It is important to note that the university has received no funding from the Chinese government in relation to research conducted by the accused individuals. We have and will continue to cooperate with federal law enforcement in its ongoing investigation and prosecution."
Los Angeles Times
27 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
U.S. says it broke up effort to bring toxic fungus to Michigan lab from China
DETROIT — A Chinese scientist entered the U.S. last year with a toxic fungus stashed in his backpack, federal authorities said Tuesday as they filed charges against him and a girlfriend who worked in a lab at the University of Michigan. The pathogen is known as Fusarium graminearum, which can attack wheat, barley, maize and rice and sicken livestock and people, the FBI said in a court filing in Detroit. The FBI said a scientific journal describes it as a 'potential agroterrorism weapon.' Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, were charged with conspiracy, smuggling, making false statements and visa fraud. 'The alleged actions of these Chinese nationals, including a loyal member of the Chinese Communist Party, are of the gravest national security concerns,' U.S. Atty. Jerome Gorgon Jr. said. Jian appeared in court and was returned to jail to await a bond hearing Thursday. An attorney who was assigned only for her initial appearance declined to comment. In July 2024, Liu was turned away at the Detroit airport and sent back to China after changing his story during an interrogation about red plant material discovered in his backpack, the FBI said. He initially claimed ignorance about the samples but later said he was planning to use the material for research at a University of Michigan lab where Jian worked and where Liu previously worked, the FBI said. The FBI said authorities found a scientific article on Liu's phone that was titled, 'Plant-Pathogen Warfare under Changing Climate Conditions.' A week before arriving in the U.S., according to investigators, Liu exchanged messages with Jian, who said, 'It's a pity that I still have to work for you.' The FBI said Liu replied: 'Once this is done, everything else will be easy.' Months later, in February, FBI agents visited Jian at the campus lab. She said, '100% no,' when asked if she had been assisting Liu with the pathogen at the lab. The FBI said it found a signed statement on her phone expressing her support for the Communist Party of China. Messages between the two in 2024 suggest that Jian was already tending to Fusarium graminearum at the campus lab before Liu was caught at the Detroit airport, the FBI said. The university does not have federal permits to handle it. The U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with China, which makes Liu's arrest unlikely unless he returns. White writes for the Associated Press.
