Strongsville is 11th Safest City, Cleveland Magazine Says

Strongsville didn't make the Top 20 suburbs in Cleveland Magazine's annual "Rating the Suburbs" issue, but it was ranked 11th in safety stats, up two notches from last year.

Kirtland, Seven Hills and Hinckley Township made the top three on the safety list.

The magazine looked at the number of crimes per 1,000 residents, listing offenses like murder, rape, aggravated robbery, assault, burglary, theft, vehicle theft and arson.

Police Chief Charles Goss said while's he's pleased Strongsville made the list, he questions the methodology that goes into ranking communities for safety. For example, a city that initiates a lot of drug investigations is going to appear to have more crime than a city that does not, when, in fact, police there are just more aggressive.

Also, a city with a regional mall is likely going to have more thefts that a community with little retail. 

"I'm not sure the numbers necessarily reflect how safe people feel in their community," Goss said. "I think it can be misleading."

A better gauge, he said, is "how safe someone feels walking the street in a public place or how safe they feel their home and vehicle are after taking reasonable precautions."

Strongsville ranked 24th in education stats, which took into account things like proficiency test scores, graduation rates, sports, languages, pay-to-play, average ACT scores, students per computer and per-pupil expenditures.

Strongsville was fourth in most home sales with 392. Elryia, Lorain and Parma had more.