SR-Petaluma area No. 17 on list of secure places

Despite headlines about gang violence, home loan foreclosures and other social ills, the Santa Rosa-Petaluma region is one of the most secure places to live in the country, a study released Monday said.

Among 127 mid-size communities, the region ranked No. 17 based on a review of crime statistics, air quality, longevity, unemployment and other criteria, according to the study by Los Angeles-based Farmers Insurance Group.

Santa Rosa-Petaluma was third in the state among regions with populations from 150,000 to 500,000 behind San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles (No. 3 nationally) and Santa Barbara-Santa Maria (No. 15 nationally), Farmers said.

"Any time you get in the top 20, you're doing very well," said Bert Sperling, president of Sperling's Bestplaces, a Portland, Ore. firm specializing in demographic analysis using statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and other sources to identify the best places to live, work or retire.

The firm looked at 379 communities, dividing them into three groups -- large metropolitan areas, mid-size cities and small towns.

Olympia, Wash., was deemed the most secure mid-size city, while San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara was named the safest place in the largest categories, communities with more than 500,000 people.

For towns under 150,000, Corvallis, Ore., was named No. 1. The city of Napa came in at No. 9 -- the only California town on the small communities list.

The Santa Rosa-Petaluma metropolitan area rose significantly in the rankings from last year, when it placed 65th in its category, Sperling said.

The region benefited from new criteria including weather extremes and life expectancy, Sperling said.

Santa Rosa-Petaluma had typically mild weather and its residents had an average life span of 78.5 years -- more than 2.5 years above the study average, Sperling said.

"We thought that was a pretty good indicator of how well people are taken care of," Sperling said.

Other factors that helped the region were above-average environmental quality and decent job growth, Sperling said.

Violent crime and unemployment kept it from rating even higher. The region had about 536 violent crimes per 100,000 people, compared with a study average of 428 per 100,000, Sperling said.

Unemployment was at 4.8 percent compared with an average of 4.3 percent, he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 762-7297 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com.