The genre of teen drama shows includes the word "drama" for a reason. Whether they're rooted in a real world or a supernatural one, it's safe to expect the wildest, strangest, and sometimes most dangerous things to happen in the fictional towns that so many teen drama characters seem to inhabit.
When TV shows create their own worlds, they can do whatever they want with it. So then, it's not particularly shocking to see many fictional teen drama towns that seem to be outrageously action-packed and dangerous in comparison to the average small town. These are some of the most iconic fictional towns in teen dramas, ranked from least to most dangerous.
Dillon
Although the tiny Texas town that is home to the Dillon Panthers isn't one that is filled with a lot of danger, it certainly had more than it's fill of drama.
Growing up in a football obsessed world is no easy feat, even for the best of football players, and unfortunately the special treatment that many of Dillon's students received did lead to some after school shenanigans (plus the very occasional death).
Tree Hill
While the pressures of teen drama sports teams seem to be absurdly over the top, at least one positive aspect of growing up in an isolated, sports-obsessed place is that it seems to be slightly safer than other typical teen drama towns.
The murder rate in Tree Hill is slightly higher than it should be though, and anyone who is waiting on a life saving heart transplant better make sure the donor heart's handlers don't have butterfingers.
Neptune
Prior to her best friend's murder, many people would have considered the class-stratified town of Neptune to be a place that is certainly home to the occasional crime, but where crime is kept away from the town's richest inhabitants.
But despite the fact that Neptune is one of the poshest fictional places to live, there is a surprising level of murder, mayhem, and criminal activity going on. Often involving Veronica Mars herself, unfortunately.
Rosewood
Surprisingly for a show on Freeform, Pretty Little Liars didn't shy away from the seedy underbelly of it's picturesque town of Rosewood.
Although the murders and suspicious deaths were relatively few and far between (at least in teen soap ), the very fact that the main squad of liars were pretty experienced criminals by the time they were in high school says a lot.
Riverdale
Riverdale is meant to be a small and relatively idyllic place, representative of any classic American town. However, despite it's diminutive size, the town is home to criminal gangs who voraciously partake in drug trafficking, violence, and other illicit activities.
But their own Se7en-style villain called Black Hood really put Riverdale over the top in of dangerous teen drama towns, as most teen dramas can't boast their own serial killer.
Smallville
Once teen dramas start veering into a more supernatural direction, it's only natural that those towns get even more dangerous. However, the town of Smallville seems to be exceptionally unlucky.
The meteor shower that brought Clark Kent to earth also altered many of the town's residents, and while suspicious deaths aren't exactly banal, they're far more common than they should be, especially since the town is home to the future greatest superhero of all time.
Greendale
As the spooky sister town of Riverdale, it's not at all surprising that Greendale has it's fair share of danger lurking around every corner. But to be honest, the residents of Greendale might not realize how lucky they are.
Yes, they have tons of supernatural creatures causing havoc pretty much nonstop, but given that the town is home to the literal devil, they actually seem to be doing pretty well in of danger, relatively speaking at least.
Beacon Hills
Beacon Hills is known as a beacon for a reason. It is a place that naturally draws a lot of supernatural activity towards it, which leads to a lot of supernatural hunters showing up in town, and therefore there are a lot of hunter vs. monster and monster vs. monster showdowns.
Scott McCall does his best to maintain the peace, but it is no easy task in this world.
Mystic Falls
It certainly makes sense that every single person in a position of power in Mystic Falls seems to be clued in on the supernatural, because if that were not the case then any reasonable person would be absolutely terrified at the constantly raising body count of this tiny town.
The titular vampires of The Vampire Diaries kill so many people that they have likely made a significant dent in the town's total population throughout the series.
Sunnydale
Oh, that darn hellmouth. Even with the greatest slayer in the history of slayers as a member of their population, Sunnydale still seems to be a wildly dangerous place.
It was once home to the Initiative, but to be honest, with the number of horrible and bizarre things happening there and considering how there seems to be practically a murder a day, it's baffling that the FBI or the NSA hasn't done an in depth investigation into this place.