Providence, the state capital · Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0How Rhode Island stacks up
Only three states report less violent crime per resident: in Rhode Island, 145.8 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2025. Among its neighbors it leads on safety and commuting and trails on schools and cost of living. The overall grade: B−, a score of 52 that ranks 25th.
Each subject puts the official state figure beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
2nd of 51A+98/100 Safe nearly everywhere. Only New Hampshire puts more residents in the nation’s safest quarter of towns. At 146 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, Rhode Island sits 4th lowest among the states. It leads its neighbors on safety, ahead of Connecticut.
Add property crime, weighted as our town grades weigh it, and it ranks 3rd lowest.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, state estimate 2025.
Measure: reported crime per resident over the engine’s three crime years (property + 4 × violent), as in our Safety grades. 29 Rhode Island towns of 10,000+ against 3,410 nationally.
Low crime nearly everywhere
At the safe end sit Glocester (#40), Bristol (#50) and Scituate (#58) in the national ranking of towns of 10,000+. By population, 37% of its town residents are in top-quarter towns and 0% in bottom-quarter ones.
| State | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 42% | 0% | |
| Rhode Island | 37% | 0% | |
| New Jersey | 35% | 20% | |
| Pennsylvania | 29% | 37% | |
| Maine | 29% | 15% | |
| Massachusetts | 29% | 24% |
A few towns sit out
Town figures come from each police department’s own reports to the FBI, and a town needs enough of the last three years reported to count. That covers 95% of the people in Rhode Island’s towns of 10,000+. One town, East Providence, has too few years reported and sits out. Its neighbors are counted about as fully, 92% to 96%.
Schools
23rd of 51B56/100 Schools a notch above average. Spending ranks 8th; results rank 23rd. On the Nation’s Report Card it ranks 23rd highest, with 32% of students at Proficient or better. 50% of residents live in bottom-quarter towns, among them Providence and Warwick.
On-time graduation, 84.1% (19th lowest), weighs equally with test results in the grade.
It spends $23,945 per pupil, 8th highest (context only; spending isn’t graded).
Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024, public schools; EDFacts graduation rates; Census school finance.
Measure: graduation rate and test results, averaged; each district’s state-test proficiency is put on the NAEP yardstick (its result ÷ the state average × the state’s NAEP proficiency) so districts compare across states. 30 Rhode Island towns of 10,000+ against 5,230 nationally.
Cost of living
50th of 51D−2/100 Among the most expensive states. Homes cost 4.6 times the typical household income, and the median tax bill is $4,900 (9th highest). Top-quarter towns are rare here; Burrillville comes closest at #2,010. It trails all of its neighbors on affordability.
Home values run 4.6 times the median household income, 15th highest.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: our cost-of-living score: home value, rent and tax bill against area income, plus the share paying 30%+ for housing. 30 Rhode Island towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Health
15th of 51B+72/100 Healthier than most states. CDC estimates put 17% of adults in fair or poor health, the 13th lowest share among the states. Massachusetts and Connecticut all do better on health. Barrington leads its towns at #211 nationally; 22% of residents live in top-quarter towns.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (BRFSS model estimates).
Measure: our health score: seven CDC PLACES measures (general, physical and mental health, obesity, diabetes, smoking, inactivity). 30 Rhode Island towns of 10,000+ against 5,218 nationally.
Housing
29th of 51C+44/100 Ownership a notch below average. Its towns beat the statewide figure. Rhode Island ranks 10th lowest for home ownership, at 64% of homes. It trails all of its neighbors on home ownership.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: share of occupied homes that are owner-occupied. 30 Rhode Island towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Natural hazards
10th of 51A−82/100 Low risk nearly everywhere. Natural hazards are expected to cost $89 a year per $100,000 of buildings, the 6th lowest rate in the country. Nearly every larger town does well here, Newport and Bristol among them. FEMA puts 81% of the expected losses on inland flooding.
Five federal major-disaster declarations since 2015, 10th fewest.
Behind the figure: inland flooding 81%, hurricane 10%, earthquake 3% of FEMA’s expected losses.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (Dec. 2025): expected annual building loss over building value, all census tracts; FEMA disaster declarations.
Measure: FEMA National Risk Index: expected yearly building loss from 18 natural hazards, as a share of building value. 30 Rhode Island towns of 10,000+ against 5,239 nationally.
Commute
39th of 51C−24/100 Time to work runs long. At 25.5 minutes, the average commute is the 24th longest among the states. It leads its neighbors on commute times, ahead of Connecticut. Barrington is the exception, with commutes in the slowest quarter of U.S. towns.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: average one-way commute of the town’s workers. 30 Rhode Island towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Growth
42nd of 51C−18/100 Slow growth. Census counts show the population up 4.3% from 2010 to 2020 (20th slowest). Top-quarter towns are rare here; Central Falls comes closest at #1,002.
Builders took out permits for 1.6 homes per 1,000 residents in 2025, 2nd fewest.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts; Census building permits.
Measure: population change between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. 30 Rhode Island towns of 10,000+ against 5,079 nationally.
How Rhode Island compares to its neighbors
Against Massachusetts and Connecticut, Rhode Island leads on safety and the commute but trails on schools, cost of living and health.
| Rhode Island | Massachusetts | Connecticut | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | B− 5225th of 51 | B+ 7016th of 51 | B+ 6817th of 51 |
| Safety | A+ 984th official · 37% in top towns | B+ 7426th official · 29% in top towns | A 922nd official · 28% in top towns |
| Schools | B 5623rd official · 15% in top towns | A+ 981st official · 39% in top towns | A 944th official · 35% in top towns |
| Cost of living | D− 243rd official · 0% in top towns | D 647th official · 1% in top towns | D 1049th official · 2% in top towns |
| Health | B+ 7213th official · 22% in top towns | A 8610th official · 41% in top towns | A 889th official · 41% in top towns |
| Housing | C+ 4442nd official · 15% in top towns | B− 5047th official · 23% in top towns | A− 7834th official · 30% in top towns |
| Natural hazards | A− 826th official · 32% in top towns | A 869th official · 53% in top towns | C 2830th official · <1% in top towns |
| Commute | C− 2428th official · 4% in top towns | D 847th official · 7% in top towns | C− 1837th official · 6% in top towns |
| Growth | C− 1832nd official · 2% in top towns | C+ 4022nd official · 9% in top towns | D− 048th official · 0% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the state’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of residents of 10,000+ towns living in a nationally top-quarter town. Neighbor names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is the figure a state agency or federal survey publishes for the whole state, ranked against the other 49 states and D.C. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the state’s towns and cities of 10,000+, the share whose town falls in the national top quarter of 10,000+ towns. A state can do well on one and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the state’s standing among the 50 states and D.C.: the two measures’ percentiles averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best state, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, commute 10, housing 8, natural hazards 8, growth 8 (out of 100). D.C., a single city, is left out of the town measure and graded on official figures alone.
What it is not. A state figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a state is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out towns under 10,000 and towns missing data. Neither says anything about any one neighborhood.
Schools use the Nation’s Report Card because each state’s own tests are set to different bars. Hazards use FEMA’s expected building damage, the same loss rate behind our town hazard grades. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work