Bristol, NH has a B safety grade (69/100) with a violent crime rate of 122 per 100,000, 65% below the national average.

FBI UCR 2024 Per-capita rates FBI UCR + NIBRS

Bristol, NH Crime Rate & Safety

Bristol is a small municipal reporter (3,290 on the UCR row). Per-100,000 violent and property rates are shown with NH and U.S. context.

My saved cities About this data
B
Safety grade
Above Average
2158.1
Property / 100K
121.6
Violent / 100K
3K
Population
+26%
property vs U.S.

Bristol, NH carries a PlainCrime B safety grade with violent crime 65% below the U.S. average

According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Bristol, NH shows violent crime at 121.6 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,158.1 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 65% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade B from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.

  • B safety grade
  • 121.6/100K violent
  • 2158.1/100K property
  • -65% vs U.S.

The verdict

Bristol earns a B safety grade: violent crime runs 65% below the U.S. average, placing it close to the national middle for violent crime.

B
PlainCrime safety grade
-65%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
65th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
2,158.1
property crimes per 100K

Based on 4 reported violent incidents in a population of 3,290. At this volume, one additional or one fewer report can shift the rate and letter grade noticeably; small-city crime counts are inherently more volatile year to year than large-city counts, so treat this grade as a data point, not a precise ranking.

What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Bristol, NH

2020–2024 direction

The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher

Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 32.2 per 100,000 in 2020 to 121.6 in 2024 (+277.1%). The highest observed value was 150.0 in 2023 and the lowest 31.6 in 2021. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.

Small-count caution

The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable

Bristol reported 4 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 3,290. At this volume one additional or one fewer report moves the per-100,000 rate noticeably, so the figure is better read as a data point than as a precise measurement, and year-to-year swings here are expected.

Comparable rate records

Bristol's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the New Hampshire cohort

The nearest comparable 2024 records to Bristol's 121.6 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Newington (121.2), Pittsburg (118.6), Berlin (126.6), Northwood (127.7). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.

Position in the state cohort

Bristol reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable New Hampshire cities

At 121.6 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Bristol ranks 34 of 186 — above 152 of the 185 other New Hampshire cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +203.0% against the cohort median of 40.1. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.

Property counts dominate Bristol's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.

Based on 4 reported violent incidents in a population of 3,290. At this volume, one additional or one fewer report can shift the rate and letter grade noticeably; small-city crime counts are inherently more volatile year to year than large-city counts, so treat this grade as a data point, not a precise ranking.

Small-city offense counts above are voluntary UCR submissions, not neighbourhood advice. Year-to-year swings can look large when the population base is modest.

Property rate moved most (2023→2024)

Property Crime Rate
+132.1%
929.8 → 2158.1/100K
Violent Crime Rate
-18.9%
150 → 121.6/100K

Property offenses lead Bristol's 2024 record

Offense Count Rate /100K
Property Crime 71 2158.1
Larceny-Theft 58 1762.9
Motor Vehicle Theft 9 273.6
Burglary 4 121.6
Arson 0 0
Violent Crime 4 121.6
Rape 2 60.8
Aggravated Assault 2 60.8
Murder 0 0
Robbery 0 0

Bristol Crime Trend (2020-2024)

Bristol property crime rate trend

Lead series · rose across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR

Property crime rate (2024)
2,158.1/100K 132.1% vs 2023
5001,0001,5002,0002,500 20202021202220232024 2,158

Bristol violent crime rate trend

Secondary series · rose · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR

Violent crime rate (2024)
121.6/100K 18.9% vs 2023
050100150200 20202021202220232024 122
Year Coverage Population Violent Rate Property Rate
2020 Comparable 3,102 32.2 1354
2021 Comparable 3,168 31.6 1136.4
2022 Comparable 3,303 121.1 999.1
2023 Comparable 3,334 150 929.8
2024 Comparable 3,290 121.6 2158.1

How Bristol sits among NH peers

Bristol vs. similar-size NH cities, violent vs. property crime. X axis violent crime per 100K, Y axis property crime per 100K, split by the national averages. 9 cities; the anchor is ringed. Bristol vs. similar-size NH cities, violent vs. property crime 0 380 Violent crime per 100K → 103 2,331 Property crime per 100K → Bristol SAFEST HIGHEST CRIME Safety grade A / B C D / F
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages

Reporting Agency

Bristol Police Department NIBRS-participating

Bristol's crime figures on this page originate from Bristol Police Department's submission to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.

Similar-Size Cities in New Hampshire

Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the New Hampshire cities closest to Bristol in population. Their populations run from 2,974 to 3,502, against 3,290 here. Or use our side-by-side compare tool to benchmark two cities directly.

Similar violent-crime rates in New Hampshire

These New Hampshire cities report the closest violent-crime rates to Bristol's 121.6/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the crime rate in Bristol, NH?
Bristol has a violent crime rate of 121.6 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 2158.1 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Bristol, NH safe?
Bristol receives a safety grade of B (Above Average), with a safety score of 69/100. The violent crime rate is 65% below the national average and 9% above the New Hampshire average.
What is the population of Bristol, NH?
The reporting population for Bristol is 3,290 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Bristol?
In 2024, Bristol reported 4 violent crimes and 71 property crimes, for a total of 75 reported offenses.
How do Bristol's reported offenses compare with its population?
In 2024, Bristol recorded about one reported offense per 44 residents and one reported violent offense per 823 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Bristol?
From 2023 to 2024, Bristol's violent crime rate decreased by 18.9%, and the property crime rate increased by 132.1%.
What is the most common crime in Bristol?
The most common crime type in Bristol is larceny-theft, accounting for 77.3% of all reported crimes (58 incidents in 2024).

Small-city read: Bristol is sourced from FBI UCR Table 8 for 2024; rates use that row's population.

Small-city rows use the same per-100,000 formula; a few unreported years can leave gaps in the trend table. Verify the agency's submission on FBI.gov UCR.

Disclaimer (small city): UCR counts here are informational only. They are not a victimization probability. Source: FBI UCR Program.

Federal sources for this small-city row

Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Bristol, NH rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.

Bulk download: city crime dataset (CSV/JSON)

Every figure on PlainCrime is rendered directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) source data, no number is typed in by an editor. Bristol is scored as a small-city UCR reporter (3,290 on the row). See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.