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Massachusetts has one of the lowest crime rates in the country. This is confirmed by SafeWise’s annual report on the safest cities in Massachusetts , published in 2026, which analyzes FBI data along with citizen perception surveys to provide an up-to-date overview of safety in the state.
The violent crime rate in Massachusetts is 3.14 incidents per 1,000 residents , below the national average of 4.3. For property crimes, the state reports 11.37 per 1,000 residents, compared to the national average of 22.89.Stay informed about the most relevant topics in politics, economics, the Latino community, and health.
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Northborough, the safest city in the state for the third year in a row
Of the 159 cities that met the ranking criteria this year, Northborough took first place for the third consecutive time. The city, located in central Massachusetts, recorded just 0.1 violent crimes per 1,000 residents and reported no vehicle thefts during the period analyzed.
Clinton remained in second place for the second year in a row. Also among the state’s ten safest cities are Scituate, Grafton, and Bedford, the only three to register simultaneous declines in both violent crime and property crime over the past year. All of the top 10 cities are suburbs of Boston or Worcester; no western Boston cities appear on the list.
What residents say: perceptions don’t always match the data
The report also includes perception data collected in SafeWise’s State of Safety survey . Thirteen percent of Massachusetts residents said they had experienced a violent crime in the past 12 months, up from 9 percent two years prior. At the same time, 53 percent of respondents said they worry about violence on a daily basis, down from 61 percent the previous year.
In property crimes, Massachusetts stood out nationally: for the second year in a row, state residents reported the lowest percentage of such experiences nationwide . Violent crime rates remain stable or are declining in 70% of the cities included in the ranking.
Boston remains one of the safest major cities in the country.
Within the metropolitan area, Boston also shows a positive trend. According to data from the Boston Police Department, shooting incidents in the city remain at historic lows, with a reduction of more than 30% compared to the average of the last five years . Multiple independent rankings place Boston among the ten safest major cities in the United States.
Neighborhoods with the highest concentration of Latino families present mixed profiles. East Boston, for example, has an estimated total rate of around 23 incidents per 1,000 residents, according to data compiled by NeighborhoodScout and the BPD. Dorchester, on the other hand, has seen significant drops in shooting incidents thanks to community policing strategies.
How is security measured in the ranking?
The SafeWise report, now in its twelfth year, bases its findings on the most recent FBI data, normalized per 1,000 residents using the NIBRS reporting system. Only cities that submitted complete reports to the FBI are included; those that did not are excluded from the analysis. The ranking reflects patterns of reported crime and is not intended to determine the overall quality of life of a community.
For a complete list of cities and their crime rates, you can consult the full SafeWise report and official state data available at Mass.gov .
