Safest Cities in Vermont
Top 10 safest cities in Vermont ranked by lowest violent crime rate per 100,000 residents. Includes cities with 10,000+ population.
FBI UCR Safest-Cities Snapshot: Vermont
Vermont's 10 safest cities for 2024 rank from Williston (violent crime rate 109.2/100K) at the top of the list to Brattleboro (violent crime rate 645.1/100K) at the bottom of this top-10 selection. Rankings are drawn directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program submissions and include only cities with reporting populations of 10,000 or more residents, which keeps per-capita rate calculations statistically stable. The average violent crime rate across these 10 cities is 316.2 per 100,000 residents — well below the US national benchmark commonly cited in the 350–400 range.
At the top of the list, Williston recorded 11 violent crimes and 459 property crimes against a reporting population of 10,071 in 2024. That works out to a property crime rate of 4557.6 per 100,000 residents alongside the 109.2/100K violent rate — both well below typical US municipal benchmarks. The top five safest Vermont cities on this list are Williston, Essex, Milton, Colchester, South Burlington, each submitting Part I offense counts to the FBI UCR Program for 2024.
Violent crime rate is used as the primary ranking metric because the four Part I violent offenses (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault) have higher reporting consistency than property offenses, which vary with local policing priorities and insurance-driven reporting. Vermont cities that missed this list either fell below the 10,000-population threshold, had incomplete 2024 UCR submissions, or were consolidated into county agency totals rather than reporting individually. For context on how the FBI collects and publishes these statistics, consult the UCR Program documentation; agency participation is voluntary and coverage can shift from year to year.
| # | Grade | City | Population | Violent Crime Rate | Property Crime Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | F | Williston | 10,071 | 109.2/100K | 4557.6/100K |
| 2 | F | Essex | 22,347 | 111.9/100K | 1731.8/100K |
| 3 | F | Milton | 10,733 | 186.3/100K | 670.8/100K |
| 4 | F | Colchester | 17,617 | 215.7/100K | 1759.7/100K |
| 5 | F | South Burlington | 21,300 | 234.7/100K | 4385/100K |
| 6 | F | Hartford | 10,759 | 316/100K | 920.2/100K |
| 7 | F | Bennington | 15,165 | 389.1/100K | 2466.2/100K |
| 8 | F | Rutland | 15,579 | 475/100K | 3793.6/100K |
| 9 | F | Burlington | 44,456 | 479.1/100K | 4289.6/100K |
| 10 | F | Brattleboro | 12,092 | 645.1/100K | 4035.7/100K |
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Top Safest Cities in Vermont
Jump straight into the top five safest Vermont cities from this ranking, or launch the compare tool for side-by-side jurisdiction benchmarking.
Methodology
Rankings are based on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program data for 2024. The violent crime rate is calculated as the number of violent crimes (murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) per 100,000 residents. Only cities in Vermont with a population of 10,000 or more are included. Cities that did not report crime data are excluded.
Source: FBI Crime in the United States, Table 8. Population figures cross-check against U.S. Census Bureau estimates where FBI populations are unavailable. Data reflects reported offenses and may not capture all criminal activity.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.