Dover, NH carries a PlainCrime A safety grade with violent crime 87% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Dover, NH shows violent crime at 47.5 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 786.4 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 87% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade A from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
A safety grade
47.5/100K violent
786.4/100K property
-87% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Dover, NH
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Dover reported 16 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 33,696. 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
Dover's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the New Hampshire cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Dover's 47.5 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Peterborough (45.9), Rindge (45.2), Greenville (49.9), Wolfeboro (44.9). 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 73.9 per 100,000 in 2020 to 47.5 in 2024 (-35.7%). The highest observed value was 73.9 in 2020 and the lowest 44.5 in 2023. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
Dover sits mid-pack among comparable New Hampshire cities
At 47.5 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Dover ranks 83 of 186 — above 103 of the 185 other New Hampshire cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +18.4% 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 Dover'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 16 reported violent incidents in a population of 33,696. 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.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Dover's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 26.7 Census sq mi, Dover logged 9.9 property and 0.6 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Dover's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (85% of 281 offenses; mix index 7,248).
Violent offenses are only 6% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (26.7 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
-16.7%
943.9 → 786.4/100K
Violent Crime Rate
+6.7%
44.5 → 47.5/100K
Property offenses lead Dover's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
265
786.4
1711
Larceny-Theft
238
706.3
-
Burglary
20
59.4
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
7
20.8
-
Arson
0
0
-
Violent Crime
16
47.5
352
Rape
10
29.7
-
Aggravated Assault
6
17.8
-
Murder
0
0
-
Robbery
0
0
-
Dover Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Dover property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Dover Police Department
Reporting agency for Dover NIBRS-participating
Dover Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Dover's 281 reported offenses (5-year span 2020-2024).
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 Dover in population. Their populations run from 22,969 to 34,207, against 33,696 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Dover reported 16 violent crimes and 265 property crimes, for a total of 281 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Dover?
From 2023 to 2024, Dover's violent crime rate increased by 6.7%, and the property crime rate decreased by 16.7%.
What is the most common crime in Dover?
The most common crime type in Dover is larceny-theft, accounting for 84.7% of all reported crimes (238 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Dover figures are FBI UCR CIUS Table 8 (vintage 2024), population-adjusted per 100,000.
Denominators are the reporting-year population on the municipal row. Incomplete years are dropped from rankings. Confirm at FBI Crime Data Explorer and Census.gov QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (mid-size municipal): figures are informational, not advice. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is the source. Consult a professional before decisions.