Virginia Has One Of Safest College Towns In Nation, Study Says

BLACKSBURG, VA — One college town in Virginia is among the safest in the country, according to a new study. Blacksburg, Virginia, was ranked No. 22 on a list of the top 50 safest college towns in the U.S.

To qualify as a "college town," safety-focused website SafeWise established that towns needed to have at least 15,000 people and include a nonprofit college or university offering four-year degrees.

Blacksburg has more than 43,000 residents. It is the 15th largest municipality in Virginia.

It is also home to Virginia Tech, which attracts 34,000 students.

The safest college town in America is Brookline, Massachusetts, according to the SafeWise study released Monday. Brookline — home to Newbury College and Hellenic College as well as a population of about 59,000 — only had 14 violent crimes in 2016, according to the FBI's most recent crime report; and there were no counts of murder or aggravated assault, the authors wrote.

Here are the top 10 safest college towns, according to SafeWise:

1. Brookline, MA
2. Deerfield, IL
3. Rexburg, ID
4. Upper Dublin, PA
5. Wellesley, MA
6. Princeton, NJ
7. Newton, MA
8. Alpharetta, GA
9. Smithfield, RI
10. Irvine, CA

SafeWise is a professional, independent review and comparison website. The authors noted the rankings are based on the violent crime rate, which includes murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Property crimes, such as burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson did not affect the final ranking.

Among the study's key findings: 70 percent of the towns didn't have a single murder in 2016. Every city on the list was at least three points below the national violent crime rate of 4.64, but just four states — Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire — had violent crime rates below two per 1,000 people.

How important is safety? When the education site Noodle surveyed parents with kids in high school or college three years ago, about 75 percent of them rated a safe environment as highly important, more than any other factor, including "good fit," affordability and top academic experience.

See the full list of the 50 safest college towns in the U.S., according to SafeWise.

Patch national reporter Dan Hampton contributed to this article.

Pictured, Virginia Tech Hokies players celebrate during the game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Cassell Coliseum on Jan. 22, 2018, in Blacksburg, Virginia. (Photo by Lauren Rakes/Getty Images)