New Hampshire’s 20 Safest Cities of 2021

1. Danville
2. Brookline
3. Atkinson
4. New Boston
5. Durham
6. Nottingham
7. Hopkinton
8. Sandown
9. Deerfield
10.Lee

See if your city made the full list.

In our 2021 State of Safety survey, 42% of residents in New Hampshire expressed daily levels of concern for their personal safety, which isn't far from the national average of 47%. Despite this level of concern, people in New Hampshire reported fewer personal experiences with crimes than previous years.

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 crime and property crime.

New Hampshire's already-low violent crime rate made improvements this year, dropping from 1.7 incidents per 1,000 people to 1.5. Likewise, the property crime rate decreased from 12.5 per 1,000 people to 12.1.

From a regional perspective, New England has the lowest crime rates in the country—with New Hampshire having the second lowest rates for both violent crime and property crime. The state trails neighboring Maine (1.2) in terms of violent crimes and is just behind a different neighbor for property crime—Massachusetts (11.8).

New Hampshire comes in well below the US average for violent crime and property crime. Among all 50 states, New Hampshire has the second-lowest rate for both violent crime and property crime.

Compared with last year, a greater number of New Hampshirites expressed daily worry over their personal safety. Still, survey respondents reported fewer personal experiences with crime and violence in the past 12 months. 

Most notably, none of the participants reported experiencing violent crimes, making New Hampshire the only state in the nation to do so. Experiences with property crime and gun violence dropped by over half and two-thirds respectively when compared to our previous survey's results.

We asked New Hampshire residents which crimes they worry may happen to them. See if New Hampshire residents are concerned about the same crime issues as the rest of the country.

View the complete 2021 State of Safety report.

Four out of five residents in New Hampshire feel safe in their home state compared to most Americans. This is likely a result of the state's low violent crime rate and zero self-reported experiences with violent crime in the last year. But rape appears to account for a higher percentage for violent crimes than most states.

• 80% of people in New Hampshire reported feeling safe in their state compared to 55% of Americans—only Wyoming residents (86%) reported higher levels.
• No Granite Staters reported having a personal experience with violent crime in the last 12 months—down from 5% last year.
• Murder is the least common violent crime in The Granite State, making up 2% of violent crimes (US 1%)—the state's 20 safest cities averaged 4%.
• Rape makes up 28% of violent crimes in New Hampshire (US 8%), but the 20 safest cities have a higher number of instances at 46%.
• 33% of survey participants report using some form of personal protection like pepper spray—about the same as the US average (34%).
• 29% of residents in New Hampshire say their personal safety has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic compared to 44% of Americans—only 3 states reported lower numbers.

• 51% of New Hampshire residents cited gun violence as a top safety concern—just under the US average of 53%.
• 3% of survey respondents reported experiencing gun violence in the last 12 months, a threefold decrease from 9% last year.
• There were no mass shootings in New Hampshire in 2019 and 2020.
• 38% of New Hampshire residents worry about police violence daily—lower than the US average of 40%.
• 59% of New Hampshirites reported having confidence in law enforcement. This is similar to the US average of 56%.
• There were 7 officer-involved shootings in 2020, down from 8 in 2019.

New Hampshire residents reported fewer experiences with property crime than the previous year. This aligns with the state's decreasing property crime rate. Residents were also less likely than any other state to say that the COVID-19 affected the security of their personal property.

• Less than half as many New Hampshirites (9%) reported personal experiences with property crime this year compared to last year (20%).
• Burglary accounts for 10% of all property crimes in The Granite State (the 20 safest cities average 20%), which is lower than the national rate of 16%.
• 14% of participants reported experiencing package theft in the last 12 months, putting New Hampshire well below the US average of 20%. It's the second-lowest in the country behind Arkansas (12%).
• 57% of residents in New Hampshire use some form of property protection. This is close to the 62% national average.
• The top form of property protection in New Hampshire this year was guard animals with 37% of survey respondents using them. This is much higher than the national average of 26%.
• Just 13% of Granite Staters say the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the security of their property—this is the lowest (tied with Wyoming) in the US, which averages 29%.

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.

• Danville is the number 1 city for the second year in a row—it's the only city in the state with no reported violent crimes in the last two years.
• 11 cities increased in rank this year, with Barnstead making the biggest leap—up 55 spots.
• There are 5 new cities in the top 20 this year—Deerfield, Lee, Litchfield, New Ipswich, and Barnstead.
• Hollis had the biggest drop in ranking (down 12 spots) among cities that stayed in the top 20.
• Only 2 of the safest cities had populations over 10,000—Durham (16,810) and Windham (14,876).
• The top 3 cities each reported 0 violent crimes—Danville, Brookline, and Atkinson.
• All of the safest cities reported violent crime rates of 0.8 per 1,000 people or lower, which translates to 6 or fewer violent crimes each.
• There were 2 reported murders among the safest cities.
• 26 rapes account for nearly half (46%) of the violent crimes in the safest cities. This is 64% higher than the state average (28%) and 5.5 times higher than the national average (8%).
• Nottingham had the lowest property crime rate in New Hampshire for the second year in a row—it was the only city with fewer than 10 property crimes at just 7 reports.
• 100% of the safest cities reported fewer than 60 total property crimes with half reporting 20 or less.

Learn how we identified the safest cities on our methodology page.

Whether your city made our list or not, we encourage everyone to be proactive about home security. Learn more about your home security options—and find out which companies we recommend for every budget and lifestyle in our roundup of the Best Home Security Systems.

We calculated crime rates for every city in the state that met our population threshold, based on the state’s median population. See how the remaining cities ranked in the list below.

NOTE: If you don’t see your city on the list, it means that it was below the population threshold or didn’t submit a complete crime report to the FBI in 2019.

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

• Best Home Security Systems
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• Burglary Stats & Facts
• The Most Burglarized City in Every State

FBI: Uniform Crime Reporting Program, “2019 Crime in the United States,” Accessed March 15, 2021.

US Census Bureau, "Data Explorer," Accessed November 18, 2020.

Best Places, “Find a Place Search Tool,” Accessed January 6, 2021.

SafeWise, “2021 State of Safety survey,” Accessed March 15, 2021.

Gun Violence Archive, “Past Summary Ledgers,” Accessed January 6, 2021.

Gun Violence Archive, “General Methodology,” Accessed March 15, 2021.

Melody Hicks, Ben Stickle, Joshua Harms, American Journal of Criminal Justice, “Assessing the Fear of Package Theft,” January 04, 2021. Accessed March 15, 2021.

For definitions and more on data sources, see our methodology page.