The 50 Safest College Towns in America of 2021

As of November 1, some students have started receiving early decisions from colleges they applied to, while others are entering their last year of high school and determining which schools they’d like to attend. But these days, they have more to consider with the ongoing pandemic.

This summer, the Biden Administration challenged schools to increase vaccination. And now, more colleges are pushing for vaccine requirements, urging students, parents, schools, and legislators to pin down their plans.

In a recent preliminary crime report from the FBI, the first six months of 2020 showed a 14.8% increase for murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, and aggravated assault offenses were up 4.6%.² 

Parents and students may want to weigh safety considerations as they pick out school locations. To help put their minds at ease and highlight safe school options, we ranked the 50 safest college towns in America.

1. Milton, MA
2. Durham, NH
3. Madison, NJ 
4. Rexburg, ID 
5. Wellesley, MA
6. Berea, OH  
7. North Andover, MA 
8. Bristol, RI 
9. Lisle, IL 
10. Rochester Hills, MI 

See the full list of America's 50 safest college towns. 

Our rankings are based on college towns that report the lowest violent crimes and property crimes per 1,000 residents.

We use the most recent FBI statistics, which currently include crime and population data reported for 2019.³ This data doesn’t capture the complete picture. Still, it’s the most consistent and comprehensive crime information available on a national level.

To qualify for our ranking list, towns must have populations of 15,000 or more that were home to accredited colleges with four-year degrees. This data is sourced from College Scorecard.⁴ Our ranking excludes for-profit institutions, technical and vocational schools, schools that offer only two-year degrees, and those with fewer than 2,000 students enrolled annually. 

For our ranking, 50% of the score was determined by the number of violent crimes per 1,000. The additional 50% of the score was determined by the number of property crimes per 1,000. We omitted all locations with missing FBI violent crime or property crime data.

Each measurement was normalized on a 0–1 scale with 1 corresponding to the measurement that would most positively affect the final score. These adjusted measurements were then added together with the weights mentioned above to get a score of 100.

We ranked 422 cities this year, compared to 457 cities last year. Both rankings used the same filtering criteria.

We also looked at the COVID-19 vaccination policy for the largest college in each town, but this factor was not part of our ranking. Vaccination requirements were individually sourced from each school’s website.

For more information, read our full methodology.

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

Let’s highlight some statistics and trends surrounding the safest college towns in America this year: 

• Massachusetts had the most college towns on our safety list with 10 towns. California had the second most with 6, Illinois had 5, and Connecticut had 4.
• Madison, NJ, ranks third on our list and is home to Fairleigh Dickinson University (Florham Campus). The town stands out for having had just one reported violent incident.
• The average violent crime rate among the 10 most dangerous college towns is 16.0 incidents per 1,000 people. That’s 16 times higher than the average violent crime rate in the 50 safest college towns.
• The 50 safest college towns have a low property crime rate average of 8.2 incidents per 1,000. The average property crime rate for the 10 most dangerous college towns is nearly 8 times higher at 62.8 per 1,000 people.
• Paying to be safe: The average cost of in-state tuition for the largest schools in the top 50 safest college towns is $27,061. The average tuition jumps up to $32,428 for out-of-state students.

• The safest college towns stayed consistent. However, Cypress, CA (home of Cypress College) is a newcomer this year.
• Northfield, MN, home to St. Olaf College, moved up 24 spots from last year’s list. Northfield decreased its violent crime rate by over half (1.4 to 0.6) and lowered its property crime rate from 9.7 to 7.3.
• The 50 safest college towns dropped slightly from a property crime rate of 8.6 incidents per 1,000 people in 2020 down to 8.2 in 2021.
• The violent crime rate among the 50 safest college towns slightly increased in violent crime. In 2019 and 2020, the rate was 0.9 incidents per 1,000 people. In 2021, it rose to one incident in 2021.

View the complete 2021 State of Safety report.

The risk of physical danger, let alone murder, is low compared to the possibility of someone messing with your stuff. The latest FBI data on crimes reported by University Law shows that students are far more likely to become a victim of a property crime than a violent crime on campus:

• The risk of students becoming victims of violent crimes on a college campus is 1 in 3,202.
• The risk of students becoming victims of murder on a college campus is 1 in 1,326,884.
• The risk of students becoming victims of a property crime on a college campus is 1 in 192.
• Since 2010, the murder rate has risen by 11.6%, but total violent crime is down by 3.8%, and property crime is down by 24% for the same period.^5,6,7

Proof of a COVID-19 vaccine is required for 35 of the top 50 anchor schools on our list. (An anchor school is the largest university found in each of the 50 safest college towns.) 

Other schools (like Brigham Young University-Idaho) don’t require the vaccine. However, some require wearing masks in campus buildings. 

In some states, like Utah, legislators have blocked college vaccination requirements, though ome Utah colleges are planning vaccine requirements for current fall and upcoming spring semesters.

So has enforcing COVID-19 policies kept the coronavirus away from campus? Some schools are reporting fewer infections this year and crediting vaccines:

• Minnesota colleges reported fewer COVID-19 cases than last fall, crediting high vaccination rates.
• In Colorado, college campuses appear to be “COVID vaccine islands” with fewer cases than surrounding less-vaccinated areas.

While most of the top 50 safest colleges require vaccinations, only 4 of the 10 anchor schools for the 10 most dangerous college towns require vaccines.

America’s most dangerous college town is Alexandria, LA, home of Louisiana State University-Alexandria—but what makes it so dangerous?

• Alexandria has the highest property crime rate out of the hundreds of towns we analyzed (89.6 incidents per 1,000 people).
• The town reported 15.7 violent crime incidents per 1,000 residents—the fourth highest in the nation.
• Your risk of being a victim of a violent crime in Alexandria, Louisiana? Nearly 1 in 64. And your risk of being a victim of a property crime? 1 in 11. 
• There were 9 incidents of murder and non-negligent manslaughter in the town last year. Meanwhile, there were 3,056 incidents of larceny-theft, 892 reported burglaries, and 232 motor vehicle thefts.

Whether you’re living on campus, in the town nearby, or at home to save some cash, you can always find ways to be a little safer and more secure. 

Even busy college students can use these security solutions:

• COVID-19 on Campus: Tips to Stay Safe
• How to Secure Your Dorm Room
• 9 Ways to Stay Safe on Your College Campus
• Best Home Security Systems for Renters
• The Best Personal Safety Devices for Every Situation
• The Best Pepper Sprays for Self Defense

• The 10 Safest Metro Cities in America
• 10 Most Dangerous Cities in America
• Crime and the Coronavirus: What You Need to Know

1. Christopher P. Krebs, Ph.D.; Christine H. Lindquist, Ph.D.; Tara D. Warner, M.A.; Bonnie S. Fisher, Ph.D.; Sandra L. Martin, Ph.D.; Office of Justice Programs, “The Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study,” Decemer 2007. Accessed October, 26, 2021.
2. FBI, “Overview of Preliminary Uniform Crime Report, January–June, 2020,” September 15, 2020. Accessed October 26, 2021.
3. FBI, “Crime in the United States.” Accessed October 26, 2021.
4. CollegeScorecard.ed.gov, “College Scorecard Data.” Downloaded August 11, 20201. Updated August 2, 2021. Accessed October 26, 2021.
5. FBI, “Murder in the United States.” Accessed October 26, 2021.
6. FBI, “ Violent Crime in the United States.” Accessed October 26, 2021.
7. FBI, “Property Crime in the United States.” Accessed October 26, 2021.
8. RAINN.org, “​​Campus Sexual Violence: Statistics.” Accessed October 26, 2021.