When we think about where we want to live, safety is always at the forefront of the key things we're looking for.

In South Dakota, one city is making quite a name for itself when it comes to providing the safest environment to live in.

For the fourth straight year, Brandon tops the list of South Dakota's Safest Cities, according to the website Safewise.

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The Mount Rushmore State's 12th largest city (10,244) has a violent crime rate of 0.7 per 1,000 people in 2021 and a property crime rate of 2.6 per 1,000 people, well below the state's average rates of 4.0 and 17.7 in the same two categories.

The state's second safest city for the second straight year is Lead.

Other holdovers from the 2020 list are Sisseton, which is up one spot at number three; Madison, which stays put in fifth; Tea and Brookings, which are each up one to sixth and seventh; and Hot Springs, which jumps from tenth to eighth.

There are three newcomers on the 2021 safest list: Lennox, which enters with an impressive fourth-place showing, as well as Belle Fourche (9th) and Mobridge (10th).

SOUTH DAKOTA'S SAFEST CITIES FOR 2021 (SafeWise)

  1. Brandon
  2. Lead
  3. Sisseton
  4. Lennox
  5. Madison
  6. Tea
  7. Brookings
  8. Hot Springs
  9. Belle Fourche
  10. Mobridge

Three cities fall out of the top ten in 2021: North Sioux City, Beresford, and Summerset.

South Dakota's three largest cities: Sioux Falls, Rapid City, and Aberdeen, were 24th, 26th, and 20th respectively.

As a state, South Dakota was well below the national property crime rate of 21.1 per 1,000 people, but slightly higher than the national violent crime rate of 3.7 incidents per 1,000 people.

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