Do you live in one of the most dangerous cities in New Hampshire?
We all watch the news and see reports on Facebook of the latest crimes that happen in our hometowns. But it can be hard to tell at a big picture level how dangerous our town actually is.
No one wants to feel unsafe, and statistically speaking, odds are that where you live is most likely relatively safe. In order to help the good people of New Hampshire — and anyone looking to move to New Hampshire — know just how close they are to danger, we took data from the annual FBI report and did some serious analysis.
The data shows that these ten cities are currently the most dangerous in the Granite State for 2019:
- Laconia (Photos)
- Rochester (Photos)
- Plymouth (Photos)
- Manchester (Photos)
- Somersworth (Photos)
- Lebanon (Photos)
- Littleton (Photos)
- Keene (Photos)
- Franklin (Photos)
- Claremont (Photos)
After analyzing 69 cities in New Hampshire, why did Laconia take the top spot?
For the answer to this question and a detailed explanation of the data and analysis we used in creating this ranking, read on.
Or learn more about the safest places in New Hampshire.
If you’re looking for something more national, check out the most dangerous cities in America or the most dangerous states in America.
For more New Hampshire reading, check out:
- 10 Best Places To Live In New Hampshire
- These Are The 10 Best Counties To Live In New Hampshire
- 10 Cheapest Places To Live In New Hampshire
Graphing The Most Dangerous And Safest Places In New Hampshire
How we determined the most dangerous cities in New Hampshire for 2019?
Every year the FBI release two crime datasets, a preliminary dataset limited to the biggest cities in the country, followed by a more detailed release at the end of the year.
For our analysis, we focused on the JUST released 2017 data, specifically the 2017 Crime In The United States Report. We will update the results when data becomes available in September 2019.
So what criteria did we use? Have a look:
- Violent Crimes Per Capita
- Property Crimes Per Capita
In order to make the analysis as apples to apples as possible, we only considered cities over 5,000 in population. That left us with 69 cities in New Hampshire.
We then ranked each city from 1 to 69 for the two criteria with a #1 ranking being the most dangerous for the particular criteria.
Next, we averaged the two rankings into one “Dangerous Index”.
Finally, we ranked every city on the “Dangerous Index” with the lowest index being the most dangerous in New Hampshire — Laconia.
Read on for a detailed look at the 10 most dangerous cities in New Hampshire.
Laconia takes 1st because of its 3rd place finish for violence.
Located in central New Hampshire, 30 miles north of Concord, Laconia experienced rise in violent crime between 2015-17.
This left residents with a 1 in 215 chance of being the victim of violence and a 1 in 29.3 chance of being the victim of theft or arson in 2017.
Another city on the eastern edge of the state, Rochester is the 2nd most dangerous city in New Hampshire overall.
While violent crime dropped, the improvement was completely nullified when 2017’s property crime statistics were even higher than recent years.
Coming in 3rd is Plymouth, a city of over 6,303.
With residents facing a 1 in 300 chance of being the victim of violence in 2017, Plymouth ranked 6th for that criteria.
Property crime now ranks 1st in New Hampshire.
Located in south-central New Hampshire, Manchester is the largest city in the state, as well as the largest city in northern New England.
While the city has been named one of the most affordable in the region by several sources, its status as the 4th most violent city in the state might mar that fact.
Between 2015-17, violent crime went up, leaving residents with a 1 in 148 chance of being the victim of violence in 2017; that’s considerably higher than most places on the list.
Located on the eastern edge of New Hampshire, bordering Maine, Somersworth has the smallest area of any city in the state.
The 10 sq. mile Somersworth saw a total of 346 property crimes in 2017, which calculates out to a 1 in 34.1 chance of being a victim of theft.
Somersworth ranked 5th for violent crime.
From 2015-17, Lebanon experienced an enormous jump in instances of violent crime, leaving residents with a 1 in 339 chance of being the victim of violence in 2017.
Property crime also went up during this period, meaning that, if trends continue, Lebanon will climb this list in no time.
Littleton is the 57th largest and 7th most dangerous city in New Hampshire.
Residents have a 1 in 48.9 chance of being the victim of a property crime each year, and chances of a violent crime now stand at 1 in 345, making Littleton quite a dangerous place to be.
Located in the southwestern corner of the state in Cheshire County, Keene has the 5th worst rate of property crime in New Hampshire.
Instances of property crime went up between 2015-17, with 2017’s rate being 1 in 34.4.
Violent crime also went up during this time period to 16th worst overall, which didn’t quite get Keene into the top ten most violent cities in the state.
Franklin might be one of the smallest city to make this list, but it proves that small towns can be every bit as dangerous as big cities.
Franklin has seen their property crime statistics drop by over 10% from 2015-17.
Still, for every year you’re within Franklin city limits, you face a greater than 1 in 63.5 chance of being robbed.
Located on the western edge of New Hampshire in Sullivan County, Claremont hasn’t experienced much of a change in its crime statistics recently.
Its relatively poor violent crime statistics went up between 2015-17, while property crime fell by a very small amount to 269 occurrences.
Locking It All Up In New Hampshire
The latest FBI crime data shows that Laconia ranks as the most dangerous city in New Hampshire for 2019.
We want to point out again that there’s still safes places in Laconia and that this isn’t a comment on the people that live there. So please don’t beat us up.
If you’re curious enough, here are the safest cities in New Hampshire:
- Nottingham (Pop. 5,046)
- Atkinson (Pop. 6,876)
- Sandown (Pop. 6,368)
For more New Hampshire reading, check out:
- 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In New Hampshire
- These Are The 10 Best Places To Retire In New Hampshire For 2018
- These Are The 10 Richest Cities In New Hampshire
- 10 Safest Places In New Hampshire
- 10 Worst Places To Live In New Hampshire
Detailed List Of The Most Dangerous Cities In New Hampshire
| Rank | City | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Laconia | 16,616 |
| 2 | Rochester | 30,441 |
| 3 | Plymouth | 6,303 |
| 4 | Manchester | 110,655 |
| 5 | Somersworth | 11,795 |
| 6 | Lebanon | 13,577 |
| 7 | Littleton | 5,871 |
| 8 | Keene | 23,386 |
| 9 | Franklin | 8,444 |
| 10 | Claremont | 12,893 |
| 11 | Conway | 9,946 |
| 12 | Seabrook | 8,816 |
| 13 | Concord | 42,942 |
| 14 | Newport | 6,344 |
| 15 | Farmington | 6,858 |
| 16 | Belmont | 7,293 |
| 17 | Berlin | 10,489 |
| 18 | Portsmouth | 21,607 |
| 19 | Gilford | 7,191 |
| 20 | Nashua | 88,102 |
| 21 | Wolfeboro | 6,189 |
| 22 | Alton | 5,334 |
| 23 | Salem | 29,013 |
| 24 | Hampton | 15,524 |
| 25 | Hillsborough | 5,954 |
| 26 | Plaistow | 7,695 |
| 27 | Pembroke | 7,115 |
| 28 | Epping | 6,978 |
| 29 | Hooksett | 14,274 |
| 30 | Meredith | 6,404 |
| 31 | Goffstown | 18,057 |
| 32 | Peterborough | 6,568 |
| 33 | Derry | 33,382 |
| 34 | Exeter | 14,807 |
| 35 | Raymond | 10,347 |
| 36 | Dover | 31,344 |
| 37 | Wakefield | 5,613 |
| 38 | Rindge | 5,883 |
| 39 | Jaffrey | 5,211 |
| 40 | Hanover | 11,443 |
| 41 | Weare | 8,935 |
| 42 | Hudson | 25,212 |
| 43 | Londonderry | 26,254 |
| 44 | Loudon | 5,506 |
| 45 | Bedford | 22,623 |
| 46 | Hampstead | 8,625 |
| 47 | Newmarket | 9,003 |
| 48 | Rye | 5,425 |
| 49 | Milford | 15,330 |
| 50 | Amherst | 11,250 |
| 51 | Pelham | 13,513 |
| 52 | Chester | 5,068 |
| 53 | Hollis | 7,838 |
| 54 | Merrimack | 25,675 |
| 55 | Barrington | 8,981 |
| 56 | New Ipswich | 5,248 |
| 57 | Auburn | 5,449 |
| 58 | Durham | 16,751 |
| 59 | Stratham | 7,452 |
| 60 | Windham | 14,686 |
| 61 | Bow | 7,820 |
| 62 | New Boston | 5,618 |
| 63 | Brookline | 5,304 |
| 64 | Kingston | 6,185 |
| 65 | Hopkinton | 5,629 |
| 66 | Litchfield | 8,508 |
| 67 | Nottingham | 5,046 |
| 68 | Atkinson | 6,876 |
| 69 | Sandown | 6,368 |
No Mention of any relations to drugs, which is the reason for the rankings being so high
The only reason my hometown of laconia even registers on this list is the fact that bike week is held here every year. Our population doubles from tourists and everyone gets drunk and stupid.
The biggest reason laconia is on here is because of the drug problem, along with unemployment and lazy people on disability that dont need it. Dont blame bike when most of the crime happens the rest of the year not during bike week.
Yah okay , Born and raised in Laconia. Crime that happens on “THAT” week is done mostly by the people who live in the area. Dad’s a police officer.
Keene? Where the State College is? Surely you jest