Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Crime per resident in Chester runs lower than in 96% of U.S. towns
Measured on crimes Chester’s police reported between 2023 and 2025, it earns a Safety Grade of A+: #10 of 124 graded towns in New Hampshire. Violent crime here is lower than in 97% of U.S. towns; property crime, lower than in 93%. Violence and property crime split as 0.1 violent crime and 2.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 1.1 and 8.9 in the rest of New Hampshire.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of NH” is every other New Hampshire 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 Chester
Chester reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 5 New Hampshire towns on Chester’s borders, 5 have a Safety Grade: Sandown (A+), Auburn (A+), Candia (A+), Raymond (A), Derry (B+). Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Chester’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; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Chester | Rest of New Hampshire | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.0 | 1.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Chester’s police reported 2 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.1 per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.1 in the rest of New Hampshire and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Chester 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 fewer than 1 violent crime, 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 | Chester property | Rest of New Hampshire property | Chester violent | Rest of New Hampshire violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.0 | 10.4 | 0.6 | 1.3 |
| 2023 | 2.6 | 9.1 | 0.0 | 1.1 |
| 2024 | 2.1 | 9.2 | 0.2 | 1.1 |
| 2025 | 2.6 | 8.2 | 0.2 | 1.1 |
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 New Hampshire.
15 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.
1 violent and 14 property, as reported to the FBI by Chester’s police.
Two people died in crashes on Chester’s roads in 2019–2023
Chester had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died.
That is about what is typical for New Hampshire towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (6.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Chester’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Chester’s own rate (7.5) 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.
Chester and its neighbors
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
New Hampshire towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chester | A+ | 0.1 | 2.4 |
| Nottingham | A+ | 0.3 | 1.2 |
| Wakefield | A | 0.5 | 4.5 |
| Moultonborough | A− | 0.9 | 3.6 |
| New Ipswich | A− | 0.6 | 6.9 |
| Northfield | B+ | 1.3 | 6.3 |
The five graded New Hampshire towns closest to Chester’s population (5,322), 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 Chester. 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 Chester’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (5,337 in 2025); our figure for Chester is 5,322 (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 Chester
Is Chester, NH safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Chester reports less crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns, an A+ Safety Grade and #10 of 124 in New Hampshire. Its police reported 0.1 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.1 in the rest of New Hampshire and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Chester?
0.1 violent and 2.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of New Hampshire reports 1.1 and 8.9; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is Chester safer than Sandown?
Sandown reports more crime per resident than Chester: Sandown grades A+ for safety and Chester A+. Sandown’s police reported 0.3 violent and 2.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Chester?
Chester’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Chester”. 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 Chester.
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.