Photo: SayCheeeeeese · Public domainPer resident, Peterborough records less crime than 85% of U.S. towns
On violence it beats 81% of U.S. towns, and on property crime 83%. Per resident, the graded rate barely moved from 2023 to 2025. Scored on crimes Peterborough’s police reported across 2023 to 2025, the town lands on A for safety: #52 of 124 graded towns in New Hampshire. Recorded violent crime ran at 0.6 per 1,000 residents a year and property crime at 4.4, against 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 Peterborough
Among New Hampshire towns, closer to the middle
New Hampshire’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Peterborough’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 58% of the 124 New Hampshire towns we grade, against 85% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Peterborough has 4,623 jobs based in town for 6,499 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 Peterborough’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 | Peterborough | Rest of New Hampshire | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Peterborough’s police reported 12 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.6 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 Peterborough 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 | Peterborough property | Rest of New Hampshire property | Peterborough violent | Rest of New Hampshire violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.2 | 10.4 | 0.8 | 1.3 |
| 2023 | 4.7 | 9.1 | 0.5 | 1.1 |
| 2024 | 4.3 | 9.2 | 0.5 | 1.1 |
| 2025 | 4.0 | 8.2 | 0.9 | 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.
32 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.
6 violent and 26 property, as reported to the FBI by Peterborough’s police.
Eight people died in crashes on Peterborough’s roads in 2019–2023
Peterborough had 8 fatal crashes in five years, in which eight people died.
That is more than 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 Peterborough’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Peterborough’s own rate (25.0) 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.
Peterborough and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peterborough | A | 0.6 | 4.4 |
| Temple | — | — | — |
| Dublin | — | — | — |
| Greenfield | — | — | — |
| Hancock | — | — | — |
| Harrisville | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Temple has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Dublin, Greenfield, Hancock and Harrisville reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023.
New Hampshire towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peterborough | A | 0.6 | 4.4 |
| Auburn | A+ | 0.1 | 2.8 |
| Kingston | A | 0.5 | 2.1 |
| Rindge | A | 0.3 | 6.0 |
| Wolfeboro | A− | 0.8 | 5.7 |
| Newport | B− | 2.5 | 7.6 |
The five graded New Hampshire towns closest to Peterborough’s population (6,499), 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 Peterborough. 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 Peterborough’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (6,452 in 2025); our figure for Peterborough is 6,499 (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 Peterborough
Is Peterborough, NH safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Peterborough reports less crime per resident than 85% of U.S. towns, an A Safety Grade and #52 of 124 in New Hampshire. Its police reported 0.6 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 Peterborough?
0.6 violent and 4.4 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.
Who polices Peterborough?
Peterborough’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Peterborough”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Peterborough.
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.