How to Read Clery Data on PlainCampus: A Practical Walkthrough

What You See on a PlainCampus School Profile

Every school profile on PlainCampus presents data from the US Department of Education's OPE Campus Safety and Security Survey. This data is submitted annually by every institution that participates in federal student aid programs — over 6,000 schools.

When you pull up a school profile, you will see several data sections. This guide walks through each one and explains how to interpret the numbers correctly.

The Safety Score

The safety score is the single most useful number on each profile. It is calculated as:

Total on-campus Clery Act incidents divided by enrollment, multiplied by 1,000.

A safety score of 2.0 means 2 incidents per 1,000 enrolled students. Lower is safer. The national rank orders all institutions by this score, with rank #1 being the safest.

# What to watch for:

**Compare schools of similar size and type.** A community college with 2,000 commuter students is fundamentally different from a residential university with 40,000 students. Their safety scores reflect different risk environments

**Look at the 3-year trend.** A school with a rising score may be experiencing worsening conditions — or improving its reporting. Context matters

**Zero is suspicious in large schools.** A university with 20,000+ students reporting zero incidents across all categories may have reporting issues rather than perfect safety

Crime Categories Explained

PlainCampus breaks crime data into the same categories required by the Clery Act:

# Criminal Offenses

These are the most serious crimes tracked under the Clery Act. They include murder, sexual assault (rape, fondling, incest, statutory rape), robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, and arson.

**Burglary** is typically the most common criminal offense on campus — it includes unlawful entry into residence halls and offices

**Sexual assault** numbers should always be read as a floor, not a ceiling. The Department of Justice estimates that only 20-25% of campus sexual assaults are reported

**Motor vehicle theft** may spike at institutions with large, open parking areas

# VAWA Offenses

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) additions to the Clery Act require reporting of domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. These were added in 2013.

VAWA numbers are the newest data categories and are still subject to significant underreporting

A school with zero VAWA offenses in all three categories may not have adequate reporting mechanisms

Year-over-year increases in VAWA reporting often indicate improving victim services, not worsening conditions

# Arrests and Disciplinary Referrals

These track liquor law violations, drug law violations, and illegal weapons possession. The data distinguishes between arrests (referred to law enforcement) and disciplinary referrals (handled internally by the institution).

**High disciplinary referral numbers** often indicate active enforcement — the school is catching and addressing violations

**Low arrest numbers with high referral numbers** suggest the school handles most violations internally rather than involving police

These numbers are heavily influenced by institutional policies on substance use

Geographic Categories

Clery Act data is reported across four geographic categories:

**On Campus** — All properties owned or controlled by the institution within a reasonable contiguous area

**On-Campus Residential** — A subset of on-campus, limited to student housing facilities

**Non-Campus** — Buildings owned or controlled by the institution but not on the main campus (satellite campuses, research facilities, fraternity/sorority houses owned by the school)

**Public Property** — Sidewalks, streets, and public areas immediately adjacent to campus

PlainCampus uses on-campus data for the safety score because it best represents the campus environment. Non-campus and public property data provide additional context but measure different geographies.

Fire Safety Data

For institutions with on-campus student housing, the Clery Act also requires fire safety reporting. PlainCampus displays:

**Total fires** in on-campus housing

**Injuries and deaths** from those fires

**Property damage categories** (Category I: under $100, Category II: $100-$999, Category III: $1,000+)

A high number of Category I fires with zero Category II/III fires typically indicates good detection systems catching small incidents before they escalate. See our fire safety guide for a deeper dive.

Common Mistakes When Reading the Data

# Comparing raw totals instead of per-student rates

A university with 50,000 students will almost always have more total incidents than a college with 2,000 students. The safety score normalizes for this. Always use the score, not the total.

# Assuming low numbers mean safety

Very low or zero numbers in certain categories — particularly sexual assault and VAWA offenses — may indicate underreporting rather than safety. Research consistently shows that schools with robust victim services report more incidents, not fewer.

# Ignoring the time lag

Clery data is reported on a calendar-year basis with a publication lag. The newest data available is typically 1-2 years old. A school that experienced a major incident last semester may not have it reflected in the current data.

# Treating the data as a complete picture

Clery data covers a narrow geographic footprint (campus property and immediately adjacent areas) and a limited set of crime categories. It does not capture off-campus crime, many types of theft, fraud, cybercrime, or harassment that does not rise to a Clery-reportable level.

Making Meaningful Comparisons

For the most useful comparisons:

Use our [comparison tool](/compare) to view schools side-by-side

Filter [rankings](/rankings) by institution type (public, private, community college) and enrollment size

Look at 3-year averages rather than single-year snapshots

Read the school's Annual Security Report for context that numbers alone cannot provide