Somersworth, NH Crime Map

Somersworth, NH Safety Overview for 2026

Somersworth earns an overall crime grade of A- for 2026, placing it among the safer small cities in New Hampshire and the broader New England region. With a population of just over 12,000 and a population density of 473 residents per square mile, the city maintains the kind of manageable scale that supports effective community policing and neighborhood accountability. A median household income of $67,209 and a low poverty rate of 8.1% further underpin the city's relative stability compared to many similarly sized municipalities.

What the Crime Data Actually Shows

Somersworth's A- overall grade reflects a crime profile that skews heavily toward lower-severity offenses. Property-related incidents — including theft, motor vehicle theft, and vandalism — account for the largest share of reported crimes, which is consistent with national patterns for cities of this size and income level. Violent crime incidents are comparatively rare and represent a small fraction of total reported activity.

Breaking down the incident type distribution reveals an important nuance: the overwhelming majority of incidents are non-violent. Larceny-theft is the single most prevalent category, followed at a distance by property damage and disorderly conduct reports. Assault incidents do appear in the data but at rates well below state and national benchmarks, contributing to the strong letter grade the city receives. Drug-related offenses represent a modest but consistent share of calls — a pattern common across Strafford County — and local law enforcement has maintained active diversion and prevention programming in response.

Neighborhood-Level Context

Somersworth is a compact city, and crime distribution across its neighborhoods tends to follow predictable urban patterns. Areas closer to the downtown commercial corridor along High Street and Washington Street see a higher concentration of reported property incidents, particularly during evening hours. This is typical for any small city's commercial core, where foot traffic, retail activity, and transient populations converge.

Residential neighborhoods away from the downtown core — including areas near Bartlett Avenue and the eastern residential sections bordering Rollinsford — report notably lower incident rates and contribute positively to the city's A- composite grade. Families evaluating Somersworth for relocation consistently find these quieter residential pockets to offer a strong quality-of-life balance relative to the city's affordable median home value of $211,368 and median rent of $1,153.

How Somersworth Compares

An A- crime grade means Somersworth outperforms a significant majority of U.S. cities when adjusted for population size. The city's 4.1% unemployment rate and 8.1% poverty rate — both relatively low figures — correlate with reduced crime pressure across most offense categories. Cities with comparable demographics frequently score in the B range; Somersworth's A- reflects both favorable socioeconomic conditions and consistent law enforcement engagement.

For context, many New Hampshire cities of similar or larger size score lower on composite safety measures. Somersworth's compact geography also means that residents are rarely far from police response infrastructure, which contributes to faster incident resolution and potentially lower rates of repeat offenses in specific areas.

Using the Crime Map Effectively

The interactive crime map for Somersworth allows you to filter incidents by type, date range, and geographic area. To get the most actionable picture of safety in 2026, consider these approaches:

• Filter by incident type first: Start with violent crime filters to quickly confirm that Somersworth's low rate holds in your specific area of interest, then layer in property crime data for a complete picture.
• Use time-based filters: Incident patterns in the downtown corridor shift meaningfully between daytime and late-night hours. Running a filter for overnight incidents versus daytime incidents can clarify whether a concentration of pins reflects a genuine safety concern or routine commercial-area activity.
• Compare block-level data: Because Somersworth's density is only 473 people per square mile, individual neighborhood blocks can vary. The map's heat-layer view makes it easy to identify which specific streets account for the bulk of reported activity versus which are consistently quiet.
• Cross-reference with the Somersworth Police Department's official blotter at somersworthnh.gov/police for verified incident details beyond what mapping platforms aggregate.

Community Safety Factors Beyond the Map

Raw incident counts only tell part of the story. Somersworth benefits from several structural factors that sustain its A- grade over time. The city's active neighborhood watch network, particularly in the residential areas north of downtown, creates informal surveillance that deters opportunistic property crime. Community engagement programs coordinated through the police department focus on youth outreach and substance abuse prevention — addressing upstream drivers of the drug-related incidents that do appear in the data.

The relatively low median rent of $1,153 also matters: housing cost stability reduces the economic stress that can contribute to property crime in cities where rents are rising faster than incomes. With a median home value of $211,368 and a healthy household income baseline, Somersworth avoids the affordability-crisis dynamics that have pushed crime grades down in comparable New England cities in recent years.