
New Hampshire is both one of the best states and safest states to live in America. The residents of the safest places in New Hampshire know how to live life right.
We set out to determine the safest places in New Hampshire for 2025. How did we do it? We consulted the numbers and analyzed important factors like property and violent crimes per capita for every place with over 5,000 residents. In total, we analyzed 75 New Hampshire cities.
We discovered that there are safe places like Durham for college kids, super safe family-friendly places like Hudson, and safe places like Berlin for people on a budget.
There's a reason notables have been singing the praises of places like Manchester, Nashua for years. These are not just some of America's best places to live, but some of the country's safest.
So, where are these amazing places in Rhode Island where crime is low and neighborhoods are safe? Read on.
It's not breaking news that New Hampshire has happy, safe places to live.
Some might think it's because of the great tax breaks, but we think it's because the hard-working people of New Hampshire are always paying it forward to fund programs that keep their cities and communities safe.
So, where's the safest place to live in New Hampshire? The safest place in New Hampshire is Litchfield.
If you want to see how New Hampshire's other amazing safe places faired, take a look at the list below. And if you don't see your favorite there, head to the bottom.
For more reading on safe places to live in and around New Hampshire, check out:
Population: 8,514
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 11 (ninth safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 152 (third safest)
Murders: 0
Murders Per 100k: 0
More on Litchfield: Real Estate
You will find Litchfield alongside the Merrimack River. With sites like the Litchfield State Forest, there is just as much natural beauty within this town as there is around it. The area's notably low crime numbers mean you can explore all it has to offer while knowing you are not surrounded by criminals waiting to pounce.
The town of 8,514 had just 1 reports of violent crime in 2024. An outstanding feat for a population of that size. When it came to property crime, Litchfield was not off the hook, but some numbers were still impressive. Those include the 1 burglaries and 2 car thefts that occurred - a low amount per capita.
Population: 7,434
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 13 (12th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 94 (safest)
Murders: 0
Murders Per 100k: 0
More on Atkinson: Real Estate
Located just south of Sandown on the Massachusetts border, Atkinson ranks as the second safest place in New Hampshire. Atkinson had the safest rate of property crime in 2024, with only 19 instances all year. That works out to a rate roughly nine times lower than the national average. So you can leave your valuables out while you play soccer or tennis at Woodlock Park without worrying if someone's going to snag them. Atkinson also had more seasons than violent crimes in the year, so the town hardly ever has to fire up its bat signal.
Population: 6,143
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 0 (third safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 227 (11th safest)
Murders: 0
Murders Per 100k: 0
More on Hopkinton: Real Estate
While Hopkinton may only rank as the third safest city in New Hampshire overall, it's the absolute best place to be in terms of violent crime. The town didn't have a single instance of violence in 2024, so you know the local police force has done an excellent job on that count. Folks in Hopkinton had a 1 in 438 of being the victim of a property crime, which is about four times lower than the national average.
Hopkinton is located just 15 minutes west of New Hampshire's capital, Concord.
Population: 6,205
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 16 (16th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 161 (fourth safest)
Murders: 0
Murders Per 100k: 0
More on New Boston: Real Estate
Located a half hour west of Manchester, New Boston is a whole lot safer than old Boston.
There were only three violent crimes committed in New Boston in 2024, giving the town a violent crime rate about seven times lower than the national average. New Boston also had the fourth safest rate of property crime in the Granite State, a rate nine times lower than the national average. Hikers and joggers will also be happy with all the trail options between Lang Station State Forest and the Town Forest.
Population: 29,650
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 0 (third safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 344 (19th safest)
Murders: 0
Murders Per 100k: 0
More on Merrimack: Real Estate
Located between Nashua and Manchester, Merrimack comes in fifth place for safest New Hampshire cities, mostly due to ridiculously low levels of violent crime. Merrimack had just six violent crimes in the last year of available data; that's one violent crime committed every other month. Not too shabby for a town of over 25,000 people.
And if you're not sold on safety alone, don't forget that Merrimack is the home of a Budweiser Brewery, so you'll always have the opportunity to spend a safe evening at the Biergarten.
Population: 6,328
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 15 (14th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 221 (eighth safest)
Murders: 0
Murders Per 100k: 0
More on Kingston: Real Estate
Kingston, the sixth safest place in New Hampshire and proudly one of its historical gems, boasts an exceptionally low violent crime per capita rate of 15/100k people and property crime per capita rate of 221/100k people.
This Rockingham County treasure is a testament to effective policing and community vigilance. With no murders reported and a minimal 14 property crimes, Kingston combines its rich heritage with contemporary safety.
Population: 5,622
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 0 (third safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 355 (20th safest)
Murders: 0
Murders Per 100k: 0
More on Rye: Real Estate
New Hampshire's first settlement, Rye's low crime figures for both violent and property offenses, have earned it the seventh safest spot for safety in New Hampshire for 2025.
Rye had 0/100k people violent crimes per capita, ranking it third safest for violent crime in the state. With only 0 incidents of violence and 20 property crimes, including just 3 burglaries, Rye is a safe place to move to in Rockingham County.
Population: 8,846
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 11 (eighth safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 327 (17th safest)
Murders: 0
Murders Per 100k: 0
More on Hollis: Real Estate
Hollis is the eighth safest town in the Granite State with incredibly low levels of crime. How low are we talking? Well, you can't really get much lower than ZERO, which was how many violent crimes occurred in Hollis in the last year of available data.
And while Hollis may not rank in the top ten for New Hampshire in terms of property crime, the rate in Hollis is still nearly five times lower than the national average. Honestly, there are more Beavers at Beaver Brook than there are crimes in a given year in Hollis.
Hollis is located on New Hampshire's southern border with Massachusetts, 15 minutes west of Nashua.
Population: 5,327
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 18 (18th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 206 (seventh safest)
Murders: 0
Murders Per 100k: 0
More on Chester: Real Estate
Population: 16,158
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 18 (17th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 222 (ninth safest)
Murders: 0
Murders Per 100k: 0
More on Windham: Real Estate
Located 20 minutes east of Nashua, Windham is the tenth safest place in New Hampshire overall. Windham had about 11 times less violent crime than the average American city and averaged just one property crime a week for the last year of available data.
So while we can't guarantee that you won't get nauseous on the Corkscrew Coaster at Windham's Canobie Lake Park, we can promise that you won't get beaten up there.
While there are surveys and public polls on what cities in New Hampshire are the safest, we wanted to rely on something other than speculation and opinion. Instead, we looked at the hard numbers from the FBI's most recent crime report in New Hampshire.
Specifically, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, which summarizes the number of property and violent crimes in each city annually. We used two criteria:
For example, there were 14 crimes committed in Litchfield, with a reported population of 8,514. That means the number of crimes per capita is 0.0016, which translates into a 1 in 608 chance of being the victim of a crime.
We only looked at New Hampshire cities that have populations of more than 5,000. This filter left us with 75 of the biggest cities in New Hampshire to rank.
We ranked each city for each criterion from 1 to 75 where 1 in any particular category is the safest.
Next, we averaged each place's two criteria to create a Safety Index. We crowned the place with the lowest overall Safety Score, "The Safest Place In New Hampshire," with any ties going to the bigger city.
The safest city in New Hampshire, based on our criteria, is Litchfield. The most dangerous city in New Hampshire? Conway, where residents had a 1 in 42 chance of being the victim of a crime.
This article has been update for 2025. This report marks our tenth time ranking the safest places to live in New Hampshire. All the data comes from the FBI's Crime In The USA 2024 report.
Looking at the data, you can tell that Litchfield is as safe as they come in New Hampshire, according to science and data.
But as most New Hampshire residents would agree, almost every place here has its safe and not safe parts. So just make sure you're informed ahead of time.
The safest places in New Hampshire are .
Here's a look at the most dangerous cities in New Hampshire according to the data:
| Rank | City | Population | Violent Crimes Per 100k | Property Crimes Per 100k | Murders Per 100k | Murders |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Litchfield, NH | 8,514 | 11 | 152 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Atkinson, NH | 7,434 | 13 | 94 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Hopkinton, NH | 6,143 | 0 | 227 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | New Boston, NH | 6,205 | 16 | 161 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Merrimack, NH | 29,650 | 0 | 344 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Kingston, NH | 6,328 | 15 | 221 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Rye, NH | 5,622 | 0 | 355 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Hollis, NH | 8,846 | 11 | 327 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Chester, NH | 5,327 | 18 | 206 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Windham, NH | 16,158 | 18 | 222 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Auburn, NH | 6,239 | 16 | 256 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Nottingham, NH | 5,449 | 36 | 128 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | Stratham, NH | 7,776 | 12 | 334 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | Loudon, NH | 5,769 | 0 | 398 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | Barrington, NH | 9,625 | 20 | 301 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | Hanover, NH | 12,421 | 0 | 450 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Brookline, NH | 5,816 | 34 | 326 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | Durham, NH | 14,718 | 40 | 224 | 6 | 1 |
| 19 | Wakefield, NH | 6,414 | 15 | 405 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | Sandown, NH | 6,689 | 59 | 179 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Bow, NH | 8,437 | 35 | 391 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | Raymond, NH | 11,056 | 54 | 307 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | Weare, NH | 9,235 | 97 | 162 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Epsom, NH | 5,019 | 39 | 398 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Milford, NH | 16,517 | 36 | 448 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | Pelham, NH | 14,606 | 34 | 506 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Newmarket, NH | 9,490 | 52 | 379 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | Bedford, NH | 23,893 | 8 | 862 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | Hampstead, NH | 9,164 | 54 | 360 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | Pembroke, NH | 7,635 | 91 | 301 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | Barnstead, NH | 5,053 | 19 | 593 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | Londonderry, NH | 26,974 | 40 | 444 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Goffstown, NH | 18,517 | 37 | 459 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Amherst, NH | 11,922 | 8 | 931 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | Peterborough, NH | 6,529 | 45 | 428 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Exeter, NH | 16,203 | 37 | 543 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | Gilford, NH | 7,926 | 12 | 1,160 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Wolfeboro, NH | 6,681 | 44 | 568 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | Moultonborough, NH | 5,314 | 75 | 451 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | Plaistow, NH | 7,826 | 38 | 779 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 | Rindge, NH | 6,630 | 45 | 739 | 0 | 0 |
| 42 | Hooksett, NH | 15,454 | 71 | 569 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 | Henniker, NH | 6,244 | 144 | 384 | 0 | 0 |
| 44 | New Ipswich, NH | 5,417 | 55 | 683 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 | Dover, NH | 33,696 | 47 | 786 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 | Meredith, NH | 6,810 | 102 | 513 | 0 | 0 |
| 47 | Alton, NH | 6,087 | 98 | 558 | 0 | 0 |
| 48 | Belmont, NH | 7,458 | 67 | 777 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 | Swanzey, NH | 7,478 | 200 | 441 | 0 | 0 |
| 50 | Rochester, NH | 33,831 | 76 | 1,143 | 0 | 0 |
| 51 | Hudson, NH | 25,672 | 74 | 1,184 | 0 | 0 |
| 52 | Hampton, NH | 16,477 | 103 | 740 | 0 | 0 |
| 53 | Derry, NH | 34,207 | 108 | 719 | 0 | 0 |
| 54 | Franklin, NH | 8,805 | 90 | 1,260 | 0 | 0 |
| 55 | Hillsborough, NH | 5,998 | 150 | 700 | 16 | 1 |
| 56 | Lebanon, NH | 15,709 | 95 | 1,604 | 0 | 0 |
| 57 | Farmington, NH | 6,880 | 188 | 697 | 0 | 0 |
| 58 | Littleton, NH | 6,047 | 99 | 1,339 | 0 | 0 |
| 59 | Northfield, NH | 5,068 | 157 | 789 | 0 | 0 |
| 60 | Newport, NH | 6,446 | 372 | 636 | 0 | 0 |
| 61 | Epping, NH | 7,692 | 104 | 1,872 | 0 | 0 |
| 62 | Nashua, NH | 90,938 | 160 | 1,261 | 0 | 0 |
| 63 | Berlin, NH | 9,477 | 126 | 1,751 | 0 | 0 |
| 64 | Plymouth, NH | 6,598 | 136 | 1,652 | 0 | 0 |
| 65 | Salem, NH | 31,962 | 106 | 1,967 | 3 | 1 |
| 66 | Concord, NH | 44,827 | 180 | 1,229 | 6 | 3 |
| 67 | Jaffrey, NH | 5,562 | 233 | 988 | 0 | 0 |
| 68 | Portsmouth, NH | 22,969 | 187 | 1,284 | 0 | 0 |
| 69 | Laconia, NH | 17,217 | 145 | 2,532 | 5 | 1 |
| 70 | Keene, NH | 22,874 | 179 | 2,172 | 0 | 0 |
| 71 | Seabrook, NH | 8,409 | 166 | 2,449 | 0 | 0 |
| 72 | Claremont, NH | 13,165 | 189 | 1,868 | 0 | 0 |
| 73 | Manchester, NH | 115,464 | 336 | 1,648 | 1 | 2 |
| 74 | Somersworth, NH | 12,270 | 179 | 2,526 | 0 | 0 |
| 75 | Conway, NH | 10,441 | 201 | 2,145 | 9 | 1 |
Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.
He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.
If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.
You can find out more about him on LinkedIn.
We founded HomeSnacks to provide insights your real estate agent would neglect to mention.
By presenting data from presentable sources and utlizing Saturday Night Science, we provide detailed insights into cities and neighborhoods.
Learn more about Nick and Chris.

HomeSnacks is based in Durham, NC.
We aim to deliver bite-sized pieces of infotainment about where you live.
We use data, analytics, and a sense of humor to determine quality of life for places across the nation.