Safest Spots For Trick-or-Treating On The SouthCoast

There are lots of different ways to rank the cities and towns across the SouthCoast. Just in time for Halloween, we have run the numbers on the best places for trick-or-treating.

In a recent national ranking by the Chamber of Commerce, a website for small businesses, Cambridge came in second among the safest cities to trick-or-treat in the entire country. According to their results, "although it’s known for its college town atmosphere, Cambridge landed high on our list due to its low number of pedestrian fatalities and low number of registered sex offenders."

Those two data points were just a few of the things the national statistics took into account when creating their list across the United States, so we ran some similar numbers for the SouthCoast to create our own local list.

Factoring in the number of violent crimes, property crimes, registered sex offenders and pedestrian fatalities and comparing those numbers to a city or town's population, we ranked 20 spots across the SouthCoast.

What we discovered was that all across the SouthCoast pedestrian fatalities are extremely low. In fact, most places locally have zero fatalities from people being struck by vehicles.

Good news for parents who will be out walking the streets after dark with their kids.

We also discovered that population really does matter. For example, although Fall River has hundreds more violent and property crimes than Wareham, it also has a much larger population, thereby making it statistically safer.

Several of the lower-ranked cities and towns also provide safe trick-or-treating options, including the free Halloween party in New Bedford and the Spooky Stroll coming to Fall River.

Of course, you are the one who knows your town best and you probably know the safest places to take your children trick-or-treating within that town. Wherever you choose to spend your Halloween night, we just hope you stay safe, have fun and get lots of good treats.