Boulder Crime vs. Princeton Crime

The crime statistics for Boulder, Colorado and Princeton, New Jersey in 2007 show that Boulder had a substantially higher crime rate in all categories. For example the number of violent crimes in Boulder was about nine times higher than in Princeton, and the number of larceny thefts was almost five times higher.


source: FBI crime statistics


However The U.S. Census Bureau statistics show that there are more than 91 thousand people living in Boulder and 31 thousand people living in Princeton. Therefore, in terms of crimes per 10,000 residents, the difference between Princeton and Boulder is not quite so large: violent crimes being three times higher in Boulder than in Princeton, and larceny thefts being about 1.5 times higher




The last murder in Princeton was in 2003 when a 23 old student (and baseball and football sportsman) was charged with a Class AA felony murder in the fatal beating of a 38-year-old man during a Halloween costume party. The last murder in Boulder was in 2007. A man killed his wife with a kitchen knife after an argument, leaving his two year old and four year old children motherless.

Over the last five years, the population of Boulder has decreased by about four thousand, or 4 percent, while the number of residents in Princeton has increased by about 5 percent. The crime rate has decreased in both towns for the last five years. The most significant crime decrease in Princeton was a two fold reduction in burglary. In Boulder, there was a 25% reduction in burglary, while property crime and larcerny theft were both down by about 40%.

Both, Boulder and Princeton, are famous student towns. This year, 28 thousand students are attending the University of Colorado at Boulder and more than 7.5 thousand students are studying at Princeton University. According to the University Crime website (www.ucrime.com), 27 crimes were committed at Princeton University in 2008 so far, and 103 crimes were committed during the same period at Colorado University in Boulder. This is about 3.5 crimes per thousand students at both universities, and the crimes mainly involved theft.


From the ‘cityrating’ website (www.cityrating.com), city crime rates in different crime categories can be compared with the national average. From 2007 statistics, Princeton’s worst performance was in burglary and theft, which were about 0.8 times the national average. Boulder’s worst categories were rape and arson, both being about 1.5 times the national average .

A list of the safest and most dangerous cities overall is compiled annually by Morgan Quitno Press, which bases the rankings on FBI figures . The most recent rankings place Boulder as the 65th safest city in the USA. Princeton was not included in the data owing to its relatively low population, but CNN Money Magazine rated Princeton the 15th best place to live in America in 2005 .