YourLocalSecurity.com ranks SDSU No. 1 for third-straight year

Story written by: Matthew Schmidt

For the third-straight year, South Dakota State University has been ranked the safest college campus in South Dakota by YourLocalSecurity.com, an ADT authorized provider and partner of SafeStreets.

YourLocalSecurity.com uses a methodology that accounts for school size, type of crimes, student surveys and other relevant data. The firm looks at the main campuses of public, private and nonprofit colleges that offer two- and four-year degrees and have at least 5,000 students. Schools with insufficient data were not included. Data is gathered from a span of three years rather than a year-by-year basis.

“South Dakota University has earned the No. 1 ranking of safest college campus in the state for its third year in a row. Students can focus on academia with ease knowing they’ve chosen the safest campus in South Dakota for learning,” Alice Good, communications specialist at YourLocalSecurity.com.

For each crime factor, the rate reported has been compared against the population per 10,000 people within the city limits. The lower the rate, the lower the number of crimes reported in the following categories:

• Violent crimes per 10,000 people;
• Property crimes per 10,000 people; and
• Hate + Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) per 10,000 people.

YourLocalSecurity.com has tracked the safest school campuses since 2016 using official data collected from the U.S. Department of Education’s Campus Safety and Security and the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report.