US Campus Safety Statistics
A national snapshot of reported campus crime, computed live from the U.S. Department of Education's Clery Act disclosures. Each figure below is aggregated directly from institution-level records, not estimated.
- 5,585
- institutions tracked
- 59
- states covered
- 33,224
- Criminal Offenses incidents (2024)
- 3
- years of Clery Act data
The national picture
PlainCampus tracks 5,585 Title IV institutions across 59 states, drawing on 424,662 Clery Act crime and VAWA records spanning 3 years. The most commonly reported offense category nationally in 2024 is motor vehicle theft, with 12,588 reported incidents.
- 5,585
- Title IV institutions tracked
- 33,224
- Criminal Offenses incidents (2024)
- 1.58
- median safety score (ranked campuses)
- 424,662
- total Clery/VAWA records
Data year 2024. Aggregated directly from OPE Campus Safety Survey institution-level Clery Act disclosures.
Key findings
Standalone facts, each computed live from the current dataset and free to quote with attribution.
- • PlainCampus tracks 5,585 Title IV institutions across 59 US states and territories, drawn from the OPE Campus Safety Survey.
- • Motor Vehicle Theft is the most commonly reported Clery Act offense category nationally in 2024, with 12,588 reported incidents across the Criminal Offenses and VAWA sections combined.
- • The top 3 Criminal Offenses categories account for 74% of the 33,224 incidents reported in that section in 2024; the three VAWA offenses are counted separately and are not included in that total.
- • 424,662 total Clery Act and VAWA records have been logged across 3 years of federal campus-safety disclosures.
- • California has more Title IV institutions in the dataset than any other state, with 590 tracked schools.
- • Among ranked, mid-to-large campuses (2,000+ enrollment), the median reported 1.58 on-campus incidents per 1,000 students in 2024.
Reported offense categories, 2024
Total reported incidents for all 14 Clery Act offense categories, summed across every tracked institution for the most recent reporting year. The survey reports Criminal Offenses and VAWA Offenses as two separate sections, so the section is named for each row and the two are not added together, because an incident meeting both definitions is reportable in both.
| Offense category | Survey section | Total incidents |
|---|---|---|
| Motor Vehicle Theft | Criminal offenses | 12,588 |
| Stalking | VAWA | 9,678 |
| Burglary | Criminal offenses | 6,673 |
| Rape | Criminal offenses | 5,379 |
| Fondling | Criminal offenses | 4,372 |
| Dating Violence | VAWA | 4,170 |
| Domestic Violence | VAWA | 3,807 |
| Aggravated Assault | Criminal offenses | 2,869 |
| Robbery | Criminal offenses | 637 |
| Arson | Criminal offenses | 628 |
| Statutory Rape | Criminal offenses | 54 |
| Murder / Non-Negligent Manslaughter | Criminal offenses | 19 |
| Incest | Criminal offenses | 3 |
| Negligent Manslaughter | Criminal offenses | 2 |
Highest average safety score by state
Average safety score across ranked, mid-to-large campuses (enrollment 2,000+) headquartered in each state.
Download the institution extract behind these aggregates: institutions.csv (same CSV as /data).
Source data is a public federal disclosure. Institution-level figures come from the U.S. Department of Education OPE Campus Safety Survey. See our methodology for the full processing pipeline.
Reading these numbers
A national total hides wide variation by state, institution size, and offense type.
- Motor Vehicle Theft is the most commonly reported offense category nationally (12,588 incidents), but reporting volume also reflects institution size and disclosure practices, not just underlying risk. Crime category rankings
- California has the most tracked institutions (590), so state totals partly reflect the number of schools, not just per-campus safety. Browse by state
- Safety scores are only computed for ranked, mid-to-large campuses (2,000+ enrollment) to avoid distortion from tiny institutions where a single incident swings the per-1,000 rate. Compare two schools
Figures are OPE Campus Safety Survey 2024 aggregates and are refreshed when the Department of Education publishes the next annual disclosure cycle. They reflect reported incidents, not adjudicated findings or a comprehensive measure of a campus's actual safety, and are not a substitute for reviewing an institution's full Annual Security Report.
