State profile · AL · Clery Act

Safest Colleges in Alabama

Federal Clery Act filings for all 72 tracked Alabama campuses, ranked by 2024 on-campus Criminal Offenses and VAWA incidents per 1,000 students. Among nonzero reporters, Jefferson State Community College currently has the lowest rate.

72
Institutions tracked
1.70
Avg campus rate / 1k (72 of 72 scored)
2.40
Statewide rate / 1k
#24
Rank by avg campus rate
313,719
Students enrolled

Among nonzero Clery reporters, Jefferson State Community College has the lowest rate in Alabama

According to U.S. Department of Education Clery Act filings, across 72 tracked campuses in Alabama, 39 reported zero 2024 Criminal Offenses and VAWA incidents used in the rate; among campuses with any in those categories, Jefferson State Community College has the lowest rate at 0.11 per 1,000 students. This comparison excludes other Clery tables and unreported harm, so review the details before drawing a safety conclusion.

Data source U.S. Department of Education, OPE Campus Safety and Security Survey

campuses tracked
72
average campus, per 1,000 (72 of 72 scored)
1.70
lowest nonzero rate - Jefferson State Community
0.11
campuses at zero in score categories
39

Data updated August 2026

Clery Act plate

Sheet AL · Alabama 1.70/1k campus avg · #24/59

RATE-LOW · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · ZERO-MIX · WT-LARGE-HOT · BOOK-FULL · CONC-MID

  • RATE-LOW 1.70/1k
  • RANK-MID #24/59
  • PHOTO-FINISH U.S. Virgin Islands · ±0.03
  • ZERO-MIX 54% zero
  • WT-LARGE-HOT Δ −0.70
  • BOOK-FULL 72/72
  • CONC-MID top5 41%

Nearest campus-rate peer: U.S. Virgin Islands (-0.03/1k)

Alabama sheet RATE-LOW · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · ZERO-MIX · WT-LARGE-HOT · BOOK-FULL · CONC-MID · peer U.S. Virgin Islands. Codes from this state’s OPE Campus Safety filing: unweighted campus rate, corpus rank (low = safer), photo-finish peer state, zero-report share, campus-vs-weighted gap, scored book, top-five enrollment concentration. Not a moving recommendation.

Clery plate RATE-LOW · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · ZERO-MIX · WT-LARGE-HOT · BOOK-FULL · CONC-MID. Nearest unweighted-rate peer is U.S. Virgin Islands (-0.03/1k). Among nonzero reporters inside the state, Jefferson State Community College leads at 0.11/1k. Instrument codes from this state's OPE Campus Safety sheet; compare similarly sized campuses before treating any single rate as decisive.

Alabama's unweighted average campus rate sits better than 59% of scored U.S. states; inside the state, Jefferson State Community College has the lowest nonzero rate at 0.11/1k, ahead of Southern Union State Community College (0.20/1k); Bevill State Community College (0.23/1k). The five largest campuses still hold 41% of enrolled students, so enrollment weight and campus-average rank can diverge.

Campus-rate neighbourhood around Alabama

Lowest/highest poles plus states nearest Alabama on unweighted average campus Clery rate. Full ladder: /rankings/.

per 1,000 students

What this shows Neighbourhood of scored states around Alabama's 1.70/1k unweighted campus average, not a full 50-state board reprint.

Source U.S. Department of Education, OPE Campus Safety and Security Survey (Clery Act) As of 2024

Safest colleges in Alabama, ranked by reported rate

Ranked from the lowest 2024 Criminal Offenses and VAWA rate upward, counting only the 33 Alabama campuses with at least one incident in those score categories. Positions are numbered within that group, because a rank counted through the zero-score campuses below would order them by nothing.

31
Miles CollegeFairfield · 1,180 students
Enrollment
1,180
Incidents /1k
13.56
#CampusEnrollmentIncidents /1k
1Jefferson State Community CollegeBirmingham · 9,240 students9,2400.114% of the leader · rank #1
2Southern Union State Community CollegeWadley · 5,063 students5,0630.204% of the leader · rank #2
3Bevill State Community CollegeJasper · 4,378 students4,3780.234% of the leader · rank #3
4George C Wallace State Community College-HancevilleHanceville · 6,424 students6,4240.314% of the leader · rank #4
5Northeast Alabama Community CollegeRainsville · 3,208 students3,2080.314% of the leader · rank #5
6University of MontevalloMontevallo · 3,088 students3,0880.324% of the leader · rank #6
7Troy UniversityTroy · 13,658 students13,6580.374% of the leader · rank #7
8Enterprise State Community CollegeEnterprise · 2,699 students2,6990.374% of the leader · rank #8
9H Councill Trenholm State Community CollegeMontgomery · 2,046 students2,0460.494% of the leader · rank #9
10Coastal Alabama Community CollegeBay Minette · 7,553 students7,5530.794% of the leader · rank #10
11Lawson State Community CollegeBirmingham · 3,453 students3,4530.875% of the leader · rank #11
12Lurleen B Wallace Community CollegeAndalusia · 2,062 students2,0620.975% of the leader · rank #12
13Samford UniversityBirmingham · 6,097 students6,0970.985% of the leader · rank #13
14Huntingdon CollegeMontgomery · 892 students8921.126% of the leader · rank #14
15University of West AlabamaLivingston · 6,820 students6,8201.176% of the leader · rank #15
16University of Alabama in HuntsvilleHuntsville · 8,564 students8,5641.8710% of the leader · rank #16
17Auburn University at MontgomeryMontgomery · 5,217 students5,2172.1112% of the leader · rank #17
18Jacksonville State UniversityJacksonville · 9,955 students9,9552.6114% of the leader · rank #18
19Fortis College-MontgomeryMontgomery · 359 students3592.7915% of the leader · rank #19
20Tuskegee UniversityTuskegee · 3,121 students3,1212.8816% of the leader · rank #20
21The University of AlabamaTuscaloosa · 40,846 students40,8462.9116% of the leader · rank #21
22University of North AlabamaFlorence · 10,204 students10,2043.0417% of the leader · rank #22
23University of South AlabamaMobile · 14,003 students14,0033.2118% of the leader · rank #23
24Oakwood UniversityHuntsville · 1,226 students1,2263.2618% of the leader · rank #24
25Auburn UniversityAuburn · 34,145 students34,1454.0422% of the leader · rank #25
26Alabama State UniversityMontgomery · 4,081 students4,0815.1528% of the leader · rank #26
27Alabama A & M UniversityNormal · 7,295 students7,2955.6231% of the leader · rank #27
28Talladega CollegeTalladega · 760 students7606.5836% of the leader · rank #28
29University of Alabama at BirminghamBirmingham · 20,905 students20,9059.6653% of the leader · rank #29
30Spring Hill CollegeMobile · 919 students91913.0672% of the leader · rank #30
31Miles CollegeFairfield · 1,180 students1,18013.5675% of the leader · rank #31
32Stillman CollegeTuscaloosa · 731 students73113.6876% of the leader · rank #32
33Marion Military InstituteMarion · 332 students33218.07100% of the leader · rank #33

Unranked campuses (39): zero score or no normalized rate

39 filed zero 2024 Criminal Offenses and VAWA incidents in the score categories; other Clery tables can still contain reports. Neither group supports a safety ordering, so these campuses are listed alphabetically without positions. Showing 15 alphabetically; the remaining 24 stay out of this HTML table so large states stay crawlable.

#CampusEnrollmentIncidents /1k
Alabama College of Osteopathic MedicineDothan · 778 students7780.00
Alabama School of Nail Technology & CosmetologyJackson · 97 students970.00
Athens State UniversityAthens · 2,986 students2,9860.00
Bishop State Community CollegeMobile · 4,001 students4,0010.00
Blue Cliff Career CollegeMobile · 107 students1070.00
Brown Beauty Barber SchoolBessemer · 54 students540.00
Cardiac and Vascular Institute of UltrasoundMobile · 56 students560.00
Central Alabama Community CollegeAlexander City · 2,140 students2,1400.00
Chattahoochee Valley Community CollegePhenix City · 1,705 students1,7050.00
Columbia Southern UniversityOrange Beach · 17,763 students17,7630.00
Faulkner UniversityMontgomery · 3,086 students3,0860.00
Fortis CollegeMobile · 315 students3150.00
Fortis College-DothanDothan · 177 students1770.00
Fortis Institute-BirminghamBirmingham · 613 students6130.00
Gadsden State Community CollegeGadsden · 5,071 students5,0710.00

Open any remaining campus from the school directory or the incident tool.

The largest universities in Alabama by enrollment

Enrollment leaders: The University of Alabama (40,846); Auburn University (34,145); University of Alabama at Birmingham (20,905), then 69 more. The 15 biggest Alabama institutions by total enrolled students, from the same federal IPEDS collection, each shown with its 2024 Criminal Offenses and VAWA rate. The five largest alone account for 41% of the 313,719 students enrolled across all 72 tracked Alabama institutions. Mid-pack by size sits near George C Wallace State Community College-Selma (1,925 students, 0.00/1k).

#InstitutionEnrollmentIncidents /1k
1The University of AlabamaTuscaloosa · 40,846 students40,846100% of the leader · rank #12.91
2Auburn UniversityAuburn · 34,145 students34,14584% of the leader · rank #24.04
3University of Alabama at BirminghamBirmingham · 20,905 students20,90551% of the leader · rank #39.66
4Columbia Southern UniversityOrange Beach · 17,763 students17,76343% of the leader · rank #40.00
5University of South AlabamaMobile · 14,003 students14,00334% of the leader · rank #53.21
6Troy UniversityTroy · 13,658 students13,65833% of the leader · rank #60.37
7University of North AlabamaFlorence · 10,204 students10,20425% of the leader · rank #73.04
8Jacksonville State UniversityJacksonville · 9,955 students9,95524% of the leader · rank #82.61
9Jefferson State Community CollegeBirmingham · 9,240 students9,24023% of the leader · rank #90.11
10John C Calhoun State Community CollegeTanner · 9,119 students9,11922% of the leader · rank #100.00
11University of Alabama in HuntsvilleHuntsville · 8,564 students8,56421% of the leader · rank #111.87
12Coastal Alabama Community CollegeBay Minette · 7,553 students7,55318% of the leader · rank #120.79
13Alabama A & M UniversityNormal · 7,295 students7,29518% of the leader · rank #135.62
14University of West AlabamaLivingston · 6,820 students6,82017% of the leader · rank #141.17
15George C Wallace State Community College-HancevilleHanceville · 6,424 students6,42416% of the leader · rank #150.31

Enrollment is total reported students, not full-time equivalent, and a branch campus is reported separately from its parent institution. A larger campus is not a less safe one: the incident rate beside it is already per 1,000 students.

Nationwide states with similar campus scale or Clery rate

Two nationwide peer sets for Alabama: closest on tracked campus count (72 here) and closest on unweighted average 2024 Clery rate (1.70/1k here). The rate-neighbourhood and keep-peer blocks above stay geo-adjacent; these columns are cross-state ABS comparisons with deduped link sets.

Similar campus count

Nearest other states by number of tracked postsecondary institutions (≥5 scored campuses in corpus).

Similar campus Clery rate

Nearest other states by unweighted average on-campus Clery rate. Campus-count peers above are excluded.

Read with this state

Keep-peer handoff: U.S. Virgin Islands sits nearest on unweighted campus average (-0.03/1k). Inside Alabama, open Jefferson State Community College's campus sheet next.

Jefferson State Community College profile → | All states → | Alabama net price → | Incident tool → | Methodology →

Alabama campus safety FAQ

What are the safest colleges in Alabama?

Among Alabama campuses that reported at least one 2024 Criminal Offense or VAWA incident in the Clery categories used here, Jefferson State Community College has the lowest rate (0.11 per 1,000 students). Next among nonzero reporters: Southern Union State Community College (0.20/1k); Bevill State Community College (0.23/1k). 39 campuses reported zero in those score categories and are listed separately without a safety ordinal, because a zero report is not the same as a proven safer campus.

How does PlainCampus rank campus safety in Alabama?

In Alabama, campuses with any 2024 Criminal Offenses or VAWA incidents in the score categories are ordered by incidents per 1,000 students - Jefferson State Community College currently leads that nonzero list at 0.11/1k. Zero-report and unscored campuses stay unranked and alphabetical. See /methodology for the full rate definition.

How many colleges in Alabama are compared?

This page covers 72 tracked higher-education institutions in Alabama, serving about 313,719 enrolled students combined across 41 cities. 33 carry a ranked nonzero rate; 39 are listed without a safety ordinal. By enrollment the largest are The University of Alabama (40,846); Auburn University (34,145); University of Alabama at Birmingham (20,905). Nearby state averages for context: U.S. Virgin Islands (1.67/1k); Georgia (1.66/1k); Wisconsin (1.75/1k); Oklahoma (1.64/1k); Maine (1.60/1k); South Carolina (1.82/1k).

Every figure on PlainCampus is rendered directly from federal Clery Act source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal Clery Act source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

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. See our appropriate use guidance.