Vermont’s 10 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.

According to our 2023 State of Safety report, Vermont’s overall level of concern about crime and safety increased from 20% to 33% this survey year—along with crime rates across the state. Despite these increases, Vermont has the second-lowest level of concern in the country behind South Dakota. Vermont and its 10 safest cities continue to have some of the lowest crime rates in the country.

After dropping last year, Vermont's violent crime rate went up from 1.7 incidents per 1,000 people to 1.9. Likewise, Vermont's property crime rate increased from 12.2 incidents per 1,000 people to 13.4.

Within the New England region, Vermont has the third-highest violent crime rate below Massachusetts (3.0) and Rhode Island (2.0). For property crime in the region, The Green Mountain State has the second-highest rate below Connecticut (15.1).

Vermont, like all of New England, typically has lower crime rates than the rest of the US. Among the 41 states that met reporting requirements this year, Vermont has the fourth-lowest violent crime rate and the seventh-lowest property crime rate.

Vermont's violent crime rate this reporting year is nearly 10% higher than last year. With the fourth-lowest violent crime rate in the nation, Vermonters’ concern about violent crime is 35% lower than most Americans. Vermont boasts the lowest levels of concern for violent crime and gun violence in the country.

• Not surprisingly, 71% of Vermonters feel safe in their state, beating the national average by a whopping 43%.
• Vermont is one of 17 states that saw the violent crime rate go up since last year. It saw a 10% bump compared to last year.
• 9 of Vermont's 10 safest cities reported violent crime rates below the state rate.
• Rape make up a bigger proportion of violent crime in Vermont than in the rest of the country—21% versus 11% nationwide. In the safest cities, rapes slightly more prevalent, making up 22% of all reported violent crimes.
• Vermont sees far fewer robberies than most states. Robbery accounts for 15% of all violent crime in the US but just 5% in Vermont.

• 25% of survey participants use some kind of personal protection like a stun gun or pepper spray, compared to 39% nationally.
• The most popular type of personal protection used by Vermont respondents this survey year was a pocket knife (52%). This is higher than the national average of 43%.
• 39% say their personal safety has been affected by the pandemic (US 44%).

• Gun violence is by far the least-concerning crime issue in The Green Mountain State. Only 24% of survey respondents worry about falling victim to gun violence, versus 47% nationwide.
• 2% of participants said they experienced gun violence during the 12 months prior to the survey (US 12%)—this is the lowest in the country alongside Idaho.
• There have been 0 mass shootings in Vermont in the past four years.
• For every police officer killed or injured by a gun in Vermont in 2022, 4 suspects experienced the same.
• There was 1 self-defense shooting incident in Vermont in 2022—the same as the year before.

Property crime went up in Vermont this year, and Vermonters worry more about property crime and package theft than any other crime issue—but still less than any other state. The property crime rate in Vermont is 31% lower than the national average.

• Vermont’s property crime rate rose by 10% this year.
• Both car theft and burglaries are less common in Vermont than in most other states. Nationwide, car theft accounts for 14% of all property crimes, but it makes up just 5% in Vermont. This is the lowest in the nation and bucks national trends of increasing car theft during the pandemic.
• Burglaries make up 14% of all property crime in the US but only 13% in Vermont.
• 80% of the safest cities reported property crime rates below state levels.

• 69% of survey respondents use some kind of security measure on their property, with security cameras being the most common (30%).
• Just 17% of Vermonters said they added or increased security measures in the 12 months prior to the survey—lower than any other state (US 35%).
• 17% say the security of their property has been affected by the pandemic (US 28%)—this is the lowest in the nation.

• 27% of survey respondents in Vermont reported experiencing package theft in the 12 months prior to the survey (US 34%).
• 27% of participants expressed a high level of concern about package theft—almost half the US average of 53%.
• The preferred methods of package protection in Vermont are leaving it in a safe spot (27%) and verified delivery (15%). While Vermont's preference for safes spots is above the national average (US 25%), it's much lower for verified delivery (US 27%).

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.

• 25 cities met criteria to be considered for ranking.
• Hinesburg kept the title of safest city in Vermont or the second consecutive year.
• Swanton (up 3 spots) saw the biggest ranking jump this year, moving up to position 4.
• All of the safest cities made our top 10 last year with 4 increasing in rank and 5 dropping in rank.
• Colchester (population 17,101) is the largest city on the list and the only one with more than 11,000 people.

• The violent crime rate in the safest cities is 1.2 incidents per 1,000 people—35% lower than the state rate (1.9).
• There were 0 reported murders in the safest cities this year compared to 8 statewide.
• Hinesburg had 0 violent crime reports for the lowest violent crime rate in the state.
• All of the safest cities reported 27 or fewer total violent crimes and 60% reported fewer than 10.

• The safest cities had a collective property crime rate of 8.9 per 1,000—7 cities reported fewer than 80 total property crimes.
• Northfield has the lowest property crime rate in Vermont for the second year in a row at just 1.2 incidents per 1,000 people—it reported fewer property crimes than violent crimes.

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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• 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.