Durham ranked No. 2 on Safest College Town in America list
DURHAM — The town, which is home to the University of New Hampshire, ranked No. 2 on a list of the top 10 college towns in America.
Safewise announced its rankings are based on college towns that report the lowest violent crimes and property crimes per 1,000 residents. Durham ranked second only to Milton, Massachusetts, which is home to Curry College.
Durham moved up to No. 2 in 2021 after ranking No. 6 in 2020 and No. 10 in 2019.
The rest of the 2021 top 10 safest college towns, according to Safewise, are No. 3 Madison, New Jersey; No. 4 Rexburg, Idaho; No. 5 Wellesley, Massachusetts; No. 6 Berea, Ohio; No. 7 North Andover, Massachusetts; No. 8 Bristol, Rhode Island; No. 9 Lisle, Illinoi and No. 10 Rochester Hills, Michigan.
Safewise uses FBI statistics, which currently include crime and population data. The data doesn’t capture the complete picture, according to Durham Town Administrator Todd Selig, who said it is, however, the most consistent and comprehensive crime information available on a national level.
More: Durham residents to get final say on Mill Pond dam: Vote scheduled for March 8.
To qualify for the Safewise 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. Safewise rankings exclude for-profit institutions, technical and vocational schools, schools that offer only two-year degrees and those with fewer than 2,000 students enrolled annually.
Administrator Todd Selig was very pleased with this year’s survey results.
“We typically score very well in this annual ranking but to achieve the No. 2 slot nationally is significant," Selig said. "Durham Police, UNH Police, Durham Fire, and Durham code enforcement work hard to develop partnerships with UNH students, as well as with UNH student services staff in areas such as Campus Residential Life, Sorority and Fraternity Life, and the Sexual Harassment and Rape Prevention Program to be proactive. We want to prevent problems before they happen, and if incidents do occur, to swiftly follow up to provide support and to ensure appropriate consequences for problematic behavior.
“From Durham’s perspective, it’s all about community policing and partnerships. That’s a recipe for success — here and elsewhere,” Selig added.
Safewise ranked 422 communities this year, compared to 457 cities last year. Safewise also looked at the COVID-19 vaccination policy for the largest college in each town, but this factor was not part of the ranking. Vaccination requirements were individually sourced from each school’s website.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Durham ranked No. 2 on Safest College Town in America list
