Survey Says! – Elk Grove Citizens Feel Safe in Neighborhoods, Not So in Commercial Areas

Only eight percent feel very safe from property crimes; at least we're not Stockton

According to polling information recently released by the City of Elk Grove, local residents say they feel safe in their neighborhoods day or night but less so in commercial areas after dark.

The findings were part of the city’s participation in the National Citizen Survey that studied opinions from hundreds of municipalities across the country and established a benchmark for comparison.

83 percent of Elk Grove citizens said they either felt very safe or somewhat safe in their neighborhoods during the day and sixty nine percent after dark. Compared to the national benchmark established by the study, Elk Grove’s perceived level of safety were “similar” to other communities.

With regards to safety in commercial areas during the day, 83 percent said they felt safe or somewhat safe and only 42 percent after dark. While the percent of those feeling safe in commercial areas during the days appeared to be high, compared to benchmarks of other communities, Elk Grove scored a “below” mark in these areas meaning they felt less safe relatively than other people in the survey.

Two other areas Elk Grove scored “below” the benchmark in the public safety area were safety from property crime with 46 percent feeling very safe or somewhat safe and 62 percent feeling very safe or somewhat safe from violent crime.

In the safety from property crime category, only eight percent responded feeling very safe, the lowest very safe score for the entire category.

Although Elk Grove citizens and city officials may not be pleased with the results, at least they can say they aren't in the same boat as our neighbor to the south, Stockton. That city earned the dubious distinction of being second on the list of the nation's 20 most miserable cities.

Good luck getting through that.