Do you live in one of the murder capitals of New Hampshire?
We all watch the news with horror when we hear about a homicide that happens not that far away from us. While a murder just blocks or even a couple of towns away from your house would make anyone uneasy, in the long run, most likely, where you live is relatively safe.
To find the cities in New Hampshire with the most murders and the highest murder rates per capita, we used Saturday Night Science to compare the FBI crime data on murders for the 7 cities in the Granite State with over 5,000 residents.
What city has the highest murder rate in New Hampshire? The city with the highest murder rate in New Hampshire is Hillsborough with 17 murders per 100,000 people.
What is the city in New Hampshire with highest number of murders? The city in New Hampshire with the highest number of murders is Concord with 3 murders.
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town in New Hampshire ranked. There were ‘only’ 7 cities in New Hampshire where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 68 places had no murder.
17 per 100k · #1 highest murder rate in New Hampshire
10 per 100k · #2 highest murder rate in New Hampshire
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
7 per 100k · #3 highest murder rate in New Hampshire
Located in
Strafford County, New Hampshire
Durham is a town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 14,638 at the 2010 census. Durham is home to the University of New Hampshire.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
7 per 100k · #4 highest murder rate in New Hampshire
Located in
Merrimack County, New Hampshire
Concord is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the county seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2010 census, its population was 42,695.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
6 per 100k · #5 highest murder rate in New Hampshire
Located in
Belknap County, New Hampshire
Laconia is a city in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 15,951 at the 2010 census, and an estimated 16,470 as of 2016. It is the county seat of Belknap County. Laconia, situated between Lake Winnipesaukee and Winnisquam Lake, includes the villages of Lakeport and Weirs Beach. Each June for nine days beginning on the Saturday of the weekend before Father’s Day and ending on Father’s Day, the city hosts Laconia Motorcycle Week, also more simply known as ‘bike week’, one of the country’s largest rallies, and each winter, the Laconia World Championship Sled Dog Derby. The city is also the site of the state’s annual Pumpkin Festival since 2015, having organized it after its former home of Keene rejected it due to riots in their neighborhoods in 2014. The city also includes one of the colleges of the Community College System of New Hampshire.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
3 per 100k · #6 highest murder rate in New Hampshire
2 per 100k · #7 highest murder rate in New Hampshire
Located in
Hillsborough County, New Hampshire
Manchester is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the largest city in northern New England, an area comprising the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 109,565, and its estimated 2016 population was 110,506. It is one of two seats of Hillsborough County, the state of New Hampshire’s most populous county. Manchester is located near the northern end of the Northeast megalopolis, along the banks of the Merrimack River-which divides the city into eastern and western sections. It was first named by the merchant and inventor Samuel Blodgett. Blodget’s vision was to create a great industrial center similar to that of the original Manchester in England, which was the world’s first industrialized city.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is New Hampshire’s statewide median.
On the map
Where New Hampshire’s murders happen
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we calculated the murder capitals of New Hampshire
While there are surveys and public polls on what cities in a state are the most dangerous, we wanted to rely on something other than speculation and opinion. Instead, we used Saturday Night Science to compare the hard numbers from the FBI’s last year of reporting. Specifically, we analyzed the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, which summarizes the number of murders in each city annually.
We only looked at every single city in New Hampshire for which FBI data was available for the most recent FBI Crime In The United States. That left us with 7 cities to rank.
We took the number of murders per capita as the ranking factor. The place with the most murders per capita based on the most recent data is Hillsborough. It is our eleventh time ranking the places with the most murders per capita in New Hampshire. We updated the list for 2026.
The full plate
Murder Rates By City In New Hampshire
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Murders | Murders/100K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hillsborough | 5,998 | 1 | 17 |
| 2 | Conway | 10,441 | 1 | 10 |
| 3 | Durham | 14,718 | 1 | 7 |
| 4 | Concord | 44,827 | 3 | 7 |
| 5 | Laconia | 17,217 | 1 | 6 |
| 6 | Salem | 31,962 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 | Manchester | 115,464 | 2 | 2 |
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Report. 7 New Hampshire cities that reported a murder.
Summary
Summary: The Places With The Most Murders In New Hampshire For 2026
If you’re looking at the places in New Hampshire with the most murders, and where residents have the highest chances of being killed themselves, this is an accurate list. Again, these statistics are an indication of where crimes occur, not a statement about the effectiveness of the law enforcement in the areas they serve.
The cities with the highest murder per capita in New Hampshire are Hillsborough, Conway, Durham, Concord, Laconia, Salem, Manchester.
