Is Berkeley America’s Safest College Town? Depends on Who You Ask

When it comes to campus safety, statistics don’t always tell the whole story. A new study crowns Berkeley as the safest U.S. college town—but ask its students, and you might hear a different story.  

Wasatch Defense Lawyers, a criminal defense firm based in Utah, evaluated the safety of U.S. college towns in a recent study. The study focused on crime data from May 2023 to May 2025 for twenty-six U.S. college towns, ranking each based on factors including assault, homicide, robbery, rape, burglary, vehicle theft, larceny, drug violations, and weapons offenses.

The University of California, Berkeley, ranked first on the list.

Overall, Berkeley claimed the top spot with an exceptionally low crime rate—just one incident per 10,000 residents—and only sixteen total reported crimes during the study period. The data show that Berkeley experienced very few violent incidents between 2023 and 2025, which, on the surface, suggests safety metrics that significantly outpace those of other college towns. Specifically, Berkeley’s crime rate is four times lower than that of second-ranked Princeton and fifteen times lower than that of third-ranked Amherst.

However, the findings obscure the full picture of safety at Berkeley because they lack context. For one, the study focused solely on reported crimes derived from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data and limited local sources. The figures were normalized per 10,000 residents rather than presented as raw numbers, which makes crime rates appear lower. The website explains that this was done to compare towns fairly, as a town with 10,000 students differs significantly from one with only 3,000. More, the study examined only twenty-six colleges, so Berkeley’s ranking as number one simply means it was the safest college town in the sample, not in the entire United States.

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In addition, a dedicated Reddit thread from just 10 months ago suggests that the study’s findings may be overstated. The original poster (OP) of the thread shared her experience as a student, claiming she feels “unsafe” on campus. She recounted experiences of verbal assault and stalking by individuals who were clearly not students but were nonetheless allowed on campus. She states the following:

[E]very day I walk to campus there is either someone smoking a crack pipe, or someone already intoxicated screaming, cussing out, and walking after people. I find that I am often the target of said people. I am a woman of small stature and have been followed TWICE in the last two weeks … And I just had to let it roll off my back, because I had homework and studying to do.

She noted that a witness called the police after seeing her being followed, but campus authorities arrived only after the individual had already left the scene. Her post sparked a broader conversation about the lack of security experienced by Berkeley students. With nearly three hundred upvotes and more than 120 comments, many of her peers appeared to agree.

Another student shared an even more alarming story, revealing that she developed mental health issues as a result of how “dangerous” she perceives Berkeley’s campus to be. She shares the following as a response to the original poster:

I’m so sorry that you had those terrible experiences. I actually developed TERRIBLE anxiety because of how dangerous berkeley is. For context, I’m also a small woman who was raised in a loving family in the country. So I was shocked to see how things were once I started attending Berkeley. Over the years, unfortunately, i’ve become accustomed to the way things are. It’s changed the way that I carry myself and think. The good thing is that I am able to protect myself better now and I’m hyper aware of my surroundings, I walk around with a stunt gun and pepper spray in my pocket at all times in case someone wants to try something at me.

In today’s world, it’s understandable that a woman might feel the need to carry a weapon for self-defense in public. However, that shouldn’t be a necessity on college campuses. Universities have a responsibility to ensure that every student feels safe and that the campus is secure from outside threats.

One major factor often cited for Berkeley’s recent safety challenges is the closure of People’s Park. Closed in January 2024, the university began converting the park into housing for students and the homeless, claiming the project would reduce crime in the area. Before construction began, crime around the park was notably high. Over a three-year period, there were 18 reported rapes, 19 robberies, 110 aggravated assaults, and 48 drug- and six weapons-related arrests. In 2021, an undergraduate student was even stabbed after walking past the park at night. 

Despite this, users in the online forum report that their recent experiences don’t reflect the improved safety the university promised following the park’s closure. One commenter states the following:

You guys DO realize people’s park is suddenly gone right? 

You guys DO understand that is where 90% of the mentally ill, homeless and addicted practically lived every day right?  

 I’ve been here 20 yrs so I’m speaking from experience  They don’t have anywhere to go now and the campus is an open campus which is ironic considering the UC plowed the park, which I don’t disagree with, but if you think THEY, the UC are not aware of the public health hazard people’s park was (addicts, robberies, too many rapes!, mental health breakdowns in public, hard drug addicts and dealers) or the public health hazard eliminating it creates….you’re wrong. They know. Please reach out to them about this don’t let it go!   

They are no longer contained. Get some f[*****]g pepper spray. Seriously. Stay safe.

Since the park’s closure, students report that many of the individuals who previously occupied the space have dispersed onto campus. According to users, some of the housing options offered to former park residents have shut down, others have been declined, and the pandemic-era policy allowing camping in the park has been reversed. As a result, with nowhere else to go, many have ended up on or around university grounds.

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Students also noted that living on the Northside of campus feels significantly safer than residing in the Southside neighborhood, where People’s Park was located. One user described the difference in safety and noise levels as “night and day.”

All of this makes it clear that while the previously noted study ranked Berkeley as exceptionally safe, student testimonials tell a different story.

The university’s surrounding urban environment and open campus model—while common among many public universities—complicates security. Berkeley’s location in a busy city means the campus is more accessible to non-students, making policing and securing the area more challenging compared to more isolated or gated college towns.

Given this, it may be time for the university to reconsider its approach to campus safety. If numerous students are expressing concerns about crime, Berkeley’s administration would be wise to listen.

It bears noting that while California’s murder rate is lower than that of many other states, its overall violent crime rate is far higher. And while Berkeley’s campus may top the Wasatch Defense Lawyers survey as the safest of those studied, it is very much an outlier in its own backyard. The city of Berkeley reports an overall crime rate of 65.65 per 1,000 residents—nearly double the national average of 33.37—with property crime making up a large share. Add to that California’s notorious catch-and-release policies, and the picture of “safety” begins to look more like a statistical sleight of hand than reality.

Image: “Peoples Park in Berkeley on April 3 2021” by Al83tito on Wikimedia Commons