Photo: Jon Platek · CC BY-SA 3.0Per resident, Keene records more property crime than four in five U.S. towns
Its two neighbors with figures both record less crime per resident. All told, Keene grades C for safety (#119 of 124 graded towns in New Hampshire): more crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. On top of that, each year brought 1.6 violent crimes and 22.3 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (1.1 and 8.6 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 Keene
2 of the 2 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 3 New Hampshire towns on Keene’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Marlborough (A), Swanzey (B). Westmoreland has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Among New Hampshire towns, lower
New Hampshire’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Keene’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 4% of the 124 New Hampshire towns we grade, against 30% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Keene is home to Keene State College, with 2,798 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 14% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
A job center
Keene has 15,358 jobs based in town for 23,072 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Keene’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Keene’s grade up; property crime pulls it down.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Keene | Rest of New Hampshire | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Keene’s police reported 111 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.6 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 Keene 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 about 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 | Keene property | Rest of New Hampshire property | Keene violent | Rest of New Hampshire violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 21.4 | 10.2 | 1.7 | 1.3 |
| 2023 | 24.1 | 8.9 | 1.6 | 1.1 |
| 2024 | 21.7 | 9.0 | 1.8 | 1.0 |
| 2025 | 21.0 | 8.0 | 1.4 | 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.
517 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.
33 violent and 484 property, as reported to the FBI by Keene’s police.
Five people died in crashes on Keene’s roads in 2019–2023
Keene had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which five 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 Keene’s size would see about 8 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Keene’s own rate (4.4) 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.
Keene and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keene | C | 1.6 | 22.3 |
| Swanzey | B | 2.5 | 4.6 |
| Westmoreland | — | — | — |
| Marlborough | A | 1.1 | 2.7 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Westmoreland has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
New Hampshire towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keene | C | 1.6 | 22.3 |
| Goffstown | A | 0.5 | 4.6 |
| Londonderry | A− | 0.6 | 4.8 |
| Bedford | A− | 0.3 | 7.4 |
| Hudson | B | 0.8 | 11.2 |
| Portsmouth | B− | 1.8 | 11.5 |
The five graded New Hampshire towns closest to Keene’s population (23,072), 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 Keene. 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 Keene’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (23,034 in 2025); our figure for Keene is 23,072 (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 Keene
Is Keene, NH safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Keene reports more crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #119 of 124 in New Hampshire. Its police reported 1.6 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 Keene?
1.6 violent and 22.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of New Hampshire reports 1.1 and 8.6; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is Keene safer than Swanzey?
Swanzey reports less crime per resident than Keene: Swanzey grades B for safety and Keene C. Swanzey’s police reported 2.5 violent and 4.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Keene?
Keene’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Keene”. 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 Keene.
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.