Salem Common Historic District · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0More property crime is recorded per resident in Salem than in 70% of U.S. towns
All 4 towns next door with figures record less crime per resident. Salem’s police logs show 1.3 violent crimes and 17.1 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the rest of New Hampshire the numbers are 1.1 and 8.6. Taking everything together, Salem scores C+ (#115 of 124 graded towns in New Hampshire): close to the middle of U.S. towns, measured on crimes its police reported between 2023 and 2025. The rate the grade counts held about level from 2023 to 2025.
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 Salem
4 of the 4 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 4 New Hampshire towns on Salem’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Atkinson (A+), Windham (A+), Pelham (A−), Derry (B+). Neighbors ↓
Among New Hampshire towns, lower
New Hampshire’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Salem’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 7% of the 124 New Hampshire towns we grade, against 41% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Salem has 21,548 jobs based in town for 31,868 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 Salem’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Salem’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (17.1) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Salem | Rest of New Hampshire | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Salem’s police reported 121 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.3 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 Salem 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 2 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 | Salem property | Rest of New Hampshire property | Salem violent | Rest of New Hampshire violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 14.2 | 10.3 | 0.9 | 1.3 |
| 2023 | 16.3 | 8.9 | 1.3 | 1.1 |
| 2024 | 19.7 | 9.0 | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| 2025 | 15.3 | 8.0 | 1.5 | 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.
536 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.
47 violent and 489 property, as reported to the FBI by Salem’s police.
Six people died in crashes on Salem’s roads in 2019–2023
Salem had 6 fatal crashes in five years, in which six people died; 2 were pedestrians.
That is about what is typical for New Hampshire towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (4.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Salem’s size would see about 7 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Salem’s own rate (3.9) 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.
Salem 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salem | C+ | 1.3 | 17.1 |
| Merrimack | A | 0.1 | 3.6 |
| Londonderry | A− | 0.6 | 4.8 |
| Bedford | A− | 0.3 | 7.4 |
| Dover | A− | 0.5 | 7.6 |
| Hudson | B | 0.8 | 11.2 |
The five graded New Hampshire towns closest to Salem’s population (31,868), 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 Salem. 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 Salem’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (31,998 in 2025); our figure for Salem is 31,868 (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 Salem
Is Salem, NH safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Salem reports more crime per resident than 59% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #115 of 124 in New Hampshire. Its police reported 1.3 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 Salem?
1.3 violent and 17.1 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.
How many homicides were there in Salem in 2025?
Salem’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Salem safer than Atkinson?
Atkinson reports less crime per resident than Salem: Atkinson grades A+ for safety and Salem C+. Atkinson’s police reported 0.3 violent and 0.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Salem?
Salem’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Salem”. 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 Salem.
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.