New Hampshire’s 20 Safest Cities of 2023

The SafeWise Team is pleased to release the ninth annual Safest Cities report.

See if your city made the full list.

In New Hampshire, 39% of residents are concerned for their safety overall, which is below the national average of 50%. Despite this low level of concern, people in New Hampshire reported much more personal experience with crimes than in previous years.

Even so, The Granite State has some of the lowest crime rates in the country—rates that continue to decline. Unsurprisingly, its safest cities come in well below the state average for violent and property crime rates.

New Hampshire comes in well below US averages for violent crime and property crime. Its already-low violent crime rate made improvements this year, dropping from 1.5 incidents per 1,000 people to 1.4. Likewise, the property crime rate decreased from 11.0  to 10.6. New Hampshire’s violent crime rate is the second-lowest in the country, and its property crime rate is the third-lowest. 

Out of those surveyed, most of the residents in New Hampshire feel safe in their home state. This is likely a result of the state's low violent crime rate and low self-reported experiences with violent crime in the last year. 

• 70% of people in New Hampshire reported feeling safe in their state compared to 50% of Americans. That's high, but it's a 17% drop from the year before.
• Granite Staters reported a 1,000% increase in their experiences with violent crime, but the numbers are still low (11%).
• New Hampshire ranks second in the list of states with the lowest violent crime rates, with 65% lower rates of violent crimes reported.
• Murder is the least common violent crime in The Granite State, making up 1% of violent crimes.
• 25% of survey participants report using some form of personal protection—lower than the US average (39%).
• Pepper spray is the most popular form of personal protection (40%).
• 38% of residents in New Hampshire say their personal safety has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic compared to 44% of Americans.

• 29% of New Hampshire residents cited gun violence as a safety concern—less than the US average of 47%.
• 10% reported a gun violence incident happening to them (US 12%). That's a 400% increase from the year before.
• There were no mass shootings in New Hampshire during the 2023 reporting year.

New Hampshire residents reported more experiences with property crime than the previous year. This doesn't align with the state's decreasing property crime rate. 

• 24% of New Hampshirites reported personal experiences with property crime year over year. That's a 380% increase from the previous year.
• Burglary is the least common property crime and accounts for 8% of all property crimes in The Granite State.
• 35% of participants reported experiencing package theft in the 12 months prior to the survey, putting New Hampshire above the US average of 34%. 
• 33% of residents in New Hampshire use no form of property protection. This is above the 24% national average.
• The top form of property protection in New Hampshire this reporting year was security cameras, with 30% of survey respondents using them. 
• Just 20% of Granite Staters say the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the security of their property—this is the lowest in the US, which averages 28%.

For the purposes of this report, the terms “dangerous” and “safest” refer explicitly to crime rates as calculated from FBI crime data—no other characterization of any community is implied or intended.

• Atkinson is the safest city in New Hampshire for the second year in a row.
• Newton jumped a whopping 29 spots to land in fifth place, while Brentwood jumped 32 spots to land in seventh place. Brookline also made impressive moves, jumping 24 spots to land in eighth place.
• Every safest city reported less than one violent crime per 1,000 people.
• 6 of the safest cities reported zero violent crimes.
• All of the safest cities reported zero murders.
• Only 3 safest cities reported a robbery.
• All of the safest cities reported fewer than 4.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents.
• No safest city reported more than 54 total property crimes, with most reporting under 20.

Click on the state image or dropdown menu below to check out the safest cities for each state.

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• The State of Safety in America in 2022

FBI Crime Data Explorer, "Documents & Downloads." Accessed February 6, 2023.

• 2021 and 2020 Crime in the United States Annual Reports
  • Offenses Known to Law Enforcement
• 2021 NIBRS Estimation Tables

FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, "Offenses Known to Law Enforcement [2019]." Accessed February 6, 2023.

Bureau of Justice Statistics, "National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)." Accessed February 6, 2023.

US Census Bureau, "2021: ACS 5-Year Estimates Subject Tables." Accessed February 6, 2023.

US Census Bureau, "2021: ACS 5-Year Estimates Detailed Tables." Accessed February 6, 2023.

SafeWise, "2022 State of Safety survey." Accessed February 6, 2023.

Gun Violence Archive, "General Methodology." Accessed February 6, 2023.

Gun Violence Archive, "Past Summary Ledgers." Accessed January 3, 2023.

Gun Violence Archive, "Congress."

• 2022 totals: Accessed January 3, 2023.
• 2021 and 2020 totals: Accessed December 19, 2022.