Maine currently has the lowest overall crime rate in the United States, with the lowest violent crime rate in recent national data, closely followed by New Hampshire and several other Northeastern states.

Quick Scoop: Safest State Right Now

  • Maine has the lowest violent crime rate in the country, at roughly around 100 incidents per 100,000 residents in 2024 FBI-based data.
  • New Hampshire is right behind, also posting violent crime rates well below 1 incident per 1,000 residents and among the lowest property crime rates.
  • Both states are routinely described as among the safest places for families as of 2025–2026, thanks to low crime and relatively high stability.

Why Maine Tops “Lowest Crime” Lists

  • Maine has:
    • The lowest violent crime rate among all states in recent nationwide comparisons.
* One of the lowest property crime rates, though Idaho slightly edges it out on property crime alone.
  • This combination of very low violence plus low property crime puts Maine at the top when people ask which state has the lowest crime rate in practical terms.

Other Very Low-Crime States

Several other states consistently cluster near the top:

  • New Hampshire
    • Violent crime rate only slightly higher than Maine, still far below the national average.
* Among the lowest property crime rates (under 1,000 incidents per 100,000 residents).
  • Vermont
    • Extremely low violent crime and often ranks as the “safest state” in broader safety indexes that include finances, roads, and disaster risk.
  • Rhode Island, Connecticut, Idaho, Massachusetts
    • All appear in recent lists for lowest violent or property crime rates.

Taken together, the Northeast region shows the lowest regional crime levels, with violent crime and property crime significantly below the U.S. average.

“Safest” vs “Lowest Crime Rate”

When people debate this on forums and in articles, two slightly different ideas come up:

  • Strict “lowest crime rate”
    • Focuses on reported violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents.
    • Here, Maine is usually credited with the lowest violent crime rate , and Idaho with the lowest property crime rate, with Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island very close behind overall.
  • Broader “safest state”
    • Some rankings (like WalletHub-style scores) add:
      • Financial security and unemployment
      • Road safety
      • Natural disasters and emergency preparedness
    • In those broader rankings, Vermont sometimes comes out number one overall, even though Maine’s raw violent crime rate is marginally lower.

So if the question is “which state has the lowest crime rate?” , the most data-aligned single answer is Maine , with the important nuance that New Hampshire, Vermont, and a few other Northeastern states are right behind and sometimes rank first in wider ‘safety’ indexes.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.