Clery Act · U.S. Department of Education · 5,673+ institutions

Is your campus
actually safe?

According to the U.S. Department of Education's Clery Act filings, this page covers on-campus crime statistics, safety rankings, and fire-safety data for 5,673+ U.S. colleges and universities, normalized per 1,000 students so big and small schools compare fairly.

Safest campuses ranked or jump to Cheapest colleges by state Most-reported By state Compare two Clery Act guide

The national picture

Across 1,807 mid-to-large U.S. campuses, the median reports just 1.1 on-campus Clery incidents per 1,000 students a year, but motor vehicle theft and burglary drive most of the 32,402 reports filed in 2023.

1.1
median incidents / 1,000 students
1,807
campuses ranked (≥2,000 students)
32,402
on-campus incidents, 2023
Motor Vehicle Theft
most-reported category

Safety scores are reported incidents per 1,000 enrolled students, lower is safer. A score of 0 can mean genuinely few incidents or under-reporting; read it alongside enrollment and reporting culture.

See the full national statistics reference →

What gets reported on U.S. campuses

Total on-campus Clery Act incidents by category, 2023 reporting year, across all 5,673+ tracked institutions

incidents
Source U.S. Department of Education, Campus Safety & Security Survey (Clery Act) As of 2023

Safest large campuses

All rankings →

Lowest reported incident rate per 1,000 students (≥2,000 enrolled)

  1. 1 University of Maryland Global Campus Adelphi, MD · 60,084 enrolled 0.03
  2. 2 Full Sail University Winter Park, FL · 26,421 enrolled 0.04
  3. 3 Palm Beach State College Lake Worth, FL · 24,369 enrolled 0.04
  4. 4 Wake Technical Community College Raleigh, NC · 22,763 enrolled 0.04
  5. 5 Front Range Community College Westminster, CO · 21,096 enrolled 0.05
  6. 6 University of the Cumberlands Williamsburg, KY · 20,327 enrolled 0.05

Highest-incident large campuses

All rankings →

Highest reported incident rate per 1,000 students (≥2,000 enrolled)

  1. 1 University of California-San Francisco San Francisco, CA · 3,126 enrolled 54.70
  2. 2 Villanova University Villanova, PA · 10,111 enrolled 49.75
  3. 3 Pacific Lutheran University Tacoma, WA · 2,737 enrolled 30.69
  4. 4 Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis Indianapolis, IN · 25,497 enrolled 28.24
  5. 5 Carleton College Northfield, MN · 2,069 enrolled 24.65
  6. 6 Oregon Health & Science University Portland, OR · 2,877 enrolled 22.25

Browse by state

Largest universities by state →
Alabama 73 tracked Alaska 10 tracked Arizona 94 tracked Arkansas 76 tracked California 604 tracked Colorado 79 tracked Connecticut 49 tracked Delaware 15 tracked Florida 300 tracked Georgia 133 tracked Hawaii 20 tracked Idaho 31 tracked Illinois 222 tracked Indiana 100 tracked Iowa 75 tracked Kansas 75 tracked Kentucky 84 tracked Louisiana 106 tracked Maine 33 tracked Maryland 71 tracked Massachusetts 138 tracked Michigan 154 tracked Minnesota 89 tracked Mississippi 50 tracked Missouri 132 tracked Montana 26 tracked Nebraska 39 tracked Nevada 35 tracked New Hampshire 31 tracked New Jersey 146 tracked New Mexico 43 tracked New York 387 tracked North Carolina 160 tracked North Dakota 25 tracked Ohio 260 tracked Oklahoma 95 tracked Oregon 67 tracked Pennsylvania 299 tracked Rhode Island 20 tracked South Carolina 87 tracked South Dakota 21 tracked Tennessee 139 tracked Texas 374 tracked Utah 58 tracked Vermont 15 tracked Virginia 133 tracked Washington 92 tracked West Virginia 66 tracked Wisconsin 82 tracked Wyoming 10 tracked District of Columbia 20 tracked

Campus safety guides

Understand the Clery Act, compare campus vs. city crime, and learn how to research safety before choosing a college.

Research Campus Safety

Before choosing a college

Understanding Clery Act

What the numbers mean

Safest Campuses in America

Data-driven rankings

Campus vs. City Crime

What the data shows

Original research

All research →

Clery Act crime category distribution

How reported incidents split across the Clery Act categories.

Largest tracked institutions by enrollment

The biggest campuses in the dataset, by enrolled students.

Top states by tracked institutions

Where the tracked colleges and universities are concentrated.

How to read this safely

Across the 2023 Clery Act data, the typical campus reports about 1.1 on-campus incidents per 1,000 students, but a single number never tells the whole story.

  • Start with the per-1,000-student rate, not raw counts, larger campuses always report more in absolute terms. Safest campuses
  • Compare two schools side by side before you decide where to apply or enroll. Compare campuses
  • A higher count can reflect stronger reporting, not more danger, learn what the Clery Act does and does not count. Clery Act guide

Figures reflect the 2023 Clery Act reporting year as filed with the U.S. Department of Education and carry a one-to-two-year lag; campus safety depends on many factors beyond reported counts.

About this data

How PlainCampus works, and why you can trust these numbers

What this site is

PlainCampus is a plain-language reference for U.S. college campus safety. We turn the U.S. Department of Education's Clery Act campus-safety filings and IPEDS institutional data into a single searchable safety profile for every federally funded college and university, with every incident count normalized per 1,000 enrolled students so schools of any size can be compared fairly. PlainCampus is for informational purposes only and does not constitute safety, security, legal, or enrollment advice; the data describes reported on-campus activity, it is not a complete picture of safety at any campus and cannot predict any individual student's experience.

Editorial process

  1. Source. Download the annual OPE Campus Safety Survey (Clery Act) filings and IPEDS institutional profiles directly from the U.S. Department of Education.
  2. Verify. Match institutions across both datasets using OPEID, the shared federal identifier, then join enrollment figures so every incident count can be normalized per 1,000 students.
  3. Publish. Compile a per-school safety profile with category-level incident counts, the computed safety score (total reportable Clery incidents divided by enrollment, per 1,000 students, no subjective weighting), and a link back to the source filing so readers can check our numbers against the original report.

Editorial independence & corrections

The PlainCampus editorial team is independent and accepts no payment, sponsorship, or promoted placement from any institution or agency. Found an error or a stale record? File a correction via the contact page, we respond within 72 hours and publish corrections with a visible revision note. See our editorial & corrections policy, methodology, about PlainCampus, privacy policy, and terms of use for full source attribution, refresh cadence, and site policies.

Frequently asked

Where does PlainCampus get its campus crime data?

All data comes from the U.S. Department of Education's OPE Campus Safety and Security Survey, which collects Clery Act-mandated crime statistics from every federally funded college and university.

What crimes are reported under the Clery Act?

The Clery Act requires colleges to report criminal offenses (murder, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, arson), VAWA offenses (dating violence, domestic violence, stalking), arrests, and disciplinary referrals.

Is PlainCampus free?

Yes, PlainCampus is completely free. You can look up safety data for any of our 5,600+ tracked institutions, compare schools, and browse state-level statistics without any account or payment.

How often is PlainCampus data updated?

The Department of Education releases updated campus safety data annually, typically covering a 3-year reporting window. We update our database when new data becomes available.