How safe is Tega Cay? How about Rock Hill? A look at SC’s ‘safest cities’ and why

It just about takes perfection to keep Tega Cay from atop lists of safest places in South Carolina. One community did it.

Tega Cay came in at No. 2 when home security review site SafeWise released its “20 Safest Cities in South Carolina” list on Tuesday. Only Isle of Palms and its 0 percent violent crime rate ranked higher.

The listing is the latest of its kind in Tega Cay, which has been a top three municipality for safety on several lists dating back at least to 2014. Tega Cay was third on the SafeWise list last year.

Clover jumped into the top 10 this year at No. 8. Fort Mill fell out to No. 15, having finished fourth last year.

Safewise is one of several groups that combs crime report data submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Some groups go purely with violent crime rates, others mix in property crime rates or related data.

Earlier this year the National Council for Home Safety and Security released its safest cities list. Tega Cay was No. 3, followed by Fort Mill at No. 6 and Rock Hill at No. 16. Last year the same group had Tega Cay at the top in South Carolina, followed by Fort Mill in second.

The most recent FBI data was used for the SafeWise ranking, from 2016. The Fort Mill Times reviewed the same federal data to see where local municipalities rank compared to their state, region and nation.

Again, Tega Cay led the way in fewest violent crimes. The city had less than one incident per 1,000 residents in 2016. Also toward the top of the table were York County and Clover, each at less than two incidents for every 1,000 residents. Rock Hill, Chester and York fell to the other end, with more than 10 violent crimes for every 1,000 people in York.

Statistics for the city of Lancaster weren’t included.

Property crimes were a little different. There, counties led the way with York County, Chester County and Lancaster County landing just ahead of Tega Cay, Fort Mill and Clover. Municipalities having higher property crime rates than counties could be the result of large retailers, denser subdivisions and similar collections of people more typical to cities and towns.

Large retailers and construction sites in particular, tend to generate a good many reports of theft and related property crimes.

Rock Hill, York and Chester came in at the bottom, with more than 50 property crimes per 1,000 residents in Chester.

This story was originally published August 22, 2018 at 5:09 PM.