Picturesque college town in the Rockies is one of America’s most dangerous: study

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Students at the University of Colorado are in for some rocky news.

Boulder, the beautiful college town the CU calls home, is one of the most dangerous in America, according to a new study.

One the other hand, the Gators aren’t as perilous as they look. Gainesville, home of the University of Florida, is one of the safest college towns.

The study from Lesson Maker Pro evaluated 174 college towns — big and small — across seven safety metrics, tracking crimes from Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) violations and hate crimes to robberies and aggravated assaults.

Researchers culled data from the US Department of Education’s Campus Safety and Security Database and calculated crime rates per 10,000 students to determine which campuses are setting the standard for student safety — and which ones fall alarmingly short.

The most dangerous college town in America, according to the results, is Shreveport, Louisiana — home to Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, which reported 788 violent crimes per 100,000 students in 2024.

But Boulder, Colorado, was the runner-up. The University of Colorado, Boulder recorded the second-highest total rapes nationwide in 2024, with 96 rapes, according to data.

Nearly one-in-five women at CU-Boulder reported being sexually assaulted since arriving on campus, according to a 2024 survey — an increase from 15% in 2021, according to The Colorado Sun.

On the flip side, Dallas was the safest city for college students, earning a near-perfect safety score of 0.11 across its nine higher-education institutions, led by Southern Methodist University (SMU).

Dallas reported exceptionally low crime figures, including just 0.38 VAWA incidents and 0.05 disciplinary actions per 10,000 students. 

Robberies, aggravated assaults, and sex offenses each stood at an extraordinarily low 0.04, alongside 0.63 campus arrests. Zero campus fires or hate crimes were recorded in the study’s dataset.

Gainesville, Florida, finished as a close second with a safety score of 0.16. Across all categories, the number of incidents per 10,000 students remained below one.

The city is home to Florida’s flagship public university, which is ranked 21st among public universities nationally.

Despite their relatively high safety statistics, a University of Florida student is being barred from entering all UF properties after he was arrested on a charge of sexual battery on Oct. 14.

Another college town on the most dangerous list is Langston, Oklahoma — ranked third among the most dangerous college towns, logging high rates of disciplinary actions and robberies.

Last year, Langston University’s homecoming weekend was disrupted by gunfire when an isolated shooting on campus left a visitor injured, highlighting ongoing security concerns in the area.

Petersburg, Virginia was also near the bottom.

Five people were shot, with one student critically injured, at Virginia State University (VSU) in Petersburg in August.

At Georgia Southern University in Swainsboro, which is also at the bottom of the safety list, five fraternities are under investigation for alleged violations of the code of student conduct, according to the university’s website.