Photo: Richard B. Johnson · CC BY-SA 3.0Recorded crime per resident is lower in New Braintree than in 95% of U.S. towns
Neither of the two towns next door with figures records less crime per resident. New Braintree grades A+ for safety on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. The local count comes to 0.7 violent crime and 1.0 incident of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 3.0 and 10.3 in the rest of Massachusetts.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of MA” is every other Massachusetts city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in New Braintree
New Braintree reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 3 Massachusetts towns on New Braintree’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: West Brookfield (A−), Hardwick (B+). North Brookfield reported to the FBI for 2025 but not 2023 or 2024. Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind New Braintree’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are lower than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | New Braintree | Rest of Massachusetts | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.0 | 3.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.0 | 3.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.0 | 2.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
New Braintree’s police reported 2 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.7 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.0 in the rest of Massachusetts and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in New Braintree per 1,000 residents
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
And no violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | New Braintree property | Rest of Massachusetts property | New Braintree violent | Rest of Massachusetts violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.0 | 10.5 | 2.0 | 3.2 |
| 2023 | 3.0 | 10.9 | 1.0 | 3.1 |
| 2024 | 0.0 | 10.3 | 1.0 | 3.0 |
| 2025 | 0.0 | 9.8 | 0.0 | 2.9 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Massachusetts.
0 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
0 violent and 0 property, as reported to the FBI by New Braintree’s police.
No one died in a crash on New Braintree’s roads in 2019–2023
That is about what is typical for Massachusetts towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (6.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of New Braintree’s size would see about 0 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so New Braintree’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
New Braintree and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Braintree | A+ | 0.7 | 1.0 |
| Hardwick | B+ | 2.0 | 2.3 |
| West Brookfield | A− | 1.2 | 2.4 |
| North Brookfield | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. North Brookfield reported to the FBI for 2025 but not 2023 or 2024.
Massachusetts towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Braintree | A+ | 0.7 | 1.0 |
| Pelham | A+ | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| Worthington | A+ | 0.3 | 1.4 |
| Royalston | A+ | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Chilmark | A | 1.1 | 2.1 |
| Egremont | A− | 1.5 | 2.4 |
The five graded Massachusetts towns closest to New Braintree’s population (1,013), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of New Braintree. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against New Braintree’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (1,012 in 2025); our figure for New Braintree is 1,013 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in New Braintree
Is New Braintree, MA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, New Braintree reports less crime per resident than 95% of U.S. towns, an A+ Safety Grade. Its police reported 0.7 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.0 in the rest of Massachusetts and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in New Braintree?
0.7 violent and 1.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Massachusetts reports 3.0 and 10.3; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is New Braintree safer than Hardwick?
Hardwick reports more crime per resident than New Braintree: Hardwick grades B+ for safety and New Braintree A+. Hardwick’s police reported 2.0 violent and 2.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices New Braintree?
New Braintree’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “New Braintree”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in New Braintree.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.