Data for the study were obtained from a single-contact mail survey of a randomly drawn sample of residents of seven sets of towns and villages within the Tynedale District, which is a rural area in northeastern England. Despite comparatively low crime levels, the Tynedale Citizen's Panel Baseline Survey (1999) found that of 600 people interviewed, approximately 80 percent indicated that the safety and security of the community were the issues that mattered most to them. For the current study, questionnaires were sent to 5,906 named individuals drawn from the 2001 Electoral Roll. A total of 1,023 completed questionnaires were returned. The data analysis found that the frequency of worry about being victimized was shaped by subjective appraisals of the threats of victimization. Perception of threat was related to a psychological perception of vulnerability, which was in turn related to personal characteristics, a sense of control over circumstances, and the consequences of victimization. The greater manifestation of fear of crime among females compared to males can be explained by this sense of vulnerability. Perceptions of disorder in the environment were also related to fear of victimization, and persons who had more authoritarian views about law and order were more likely to perceive disorder in their environment. This study concludes that the prevalence of fear of crime when the crime rate is low resides in subjective links between crime and a person's perception of the existence of undesirable social and physical characteristics of a community. 2 figures, 2 tables, and 58 references