by our College Data Analytics TeamIs Columbia safe? On this page, we'll examine crime statistics for the college campus and surrounding areas.
Our crime and safety report on Columbia includes:
We have compiled this information on crime statistics from the U.S. Department of Education's Campus Safety and Security data. The types of crimes are divided into the following categories: arrests for major crimes, arrests for possession, violence against women, and disciplinary actions.
The arrests for major crimes category includes arrests for things such as murder, robbery, rape, aggravated assault, and arson. The violence against women grouping includes things such as domestic violence, date rape, and stalking. The arrests for possession classification deals with things such as weapons possession, alcohol violations, and drug violations. The disciplinary actions category involves possession of weapons, alcohol violations, and drug violations in the cases where no arrest occurred but some action was taken.
It is not unusual for institutions to report that no incidents occurred in some of these categories. In fact, 56% of the schools we cover reported no arrests for major crimes, 67% reported no violence against women, 70% reported no arrests for possession, and 68% reported no disciplinary actions.
Zero incidents of reported crime may be nice to see, but it does not necessarily mean the school is safer, as it could indicate lax reporting. Similarly, a high number of incidents could indicate that the school is more strict about reporting and law enforcement than other institutions.
In order to make this data a little clearer, the table below shows the number of incidents by category and the maximum number of incidents reported by a school in that category.
| Category | Number of Incidents | Max Number of Incidents (at any school) | Number of Incidents per 1,000 students | Max Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrests for Major Crimes | 92 | 1,670 | 2.92 | 4,000.00 |
| Arrests for Possession | 5 | 880 | 0.16 | 1,352.94 |
| Violence Against Women | 74 | 334 | 2.35 | 1,000.00 |
| Disciplinary Actions | 346 | 2,670 | 11.00 | 4,574.85 |
The chart below shows what percentage of Columbia crime and safety incidents are in each category.
Disciplinary actions account for 66.9% of all crime and safety incidents at the school. Around 1.0% of the crime and safety-related incidents at Columbia University in the City of New York resulted in arrests for possession. About 17.8% of incidents were arrests for major crimes. Acts of violence against women accounted for 14.3% of incidents.
Comparison to Other Schools in the Nation
The charts below show how Columbia compares to other colleges and universities in the nation when it comes to each category of crime and safety-related incidents. Note that this does not take school size into account so larger schools are likely to have more incidents.
We can factor in the size of the school and look at the incidents per thousand students as well.
The percentage breakdown of Columbia crime and safety incidents by location is shown in the following chart.
In order to make this data a little clearer, the table below shows the number of incidents by category and the maximum number of incidents reported by a school in that category.
| Category | Number of Incidents | Max Number of Incidents (at any school) | Number of Incidents per 1,000 students | Max Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrests for Major Crimes | 72 | 1,585 | 2.29 | 4,000.00 |
| Arrests for Possession | 5 | 813 | 0.16 | 888.89 |
| Violence Against Women | 73 | 331 | 2.32 | 1,000.00 |
| Disciplinary Actions | 346 | 2,645 | 11.00 | 4,544.91 |
The percentage breakdown of Columbia on-campus crime and safety incidents by category is shown in the following chart.
In order to make this data a little clearer, the table below shows the number of incidents by category and the maximum number of incidents reported by a school in that category.
| Category | Number of Incidents | Max Number of Incidents (at any school) | Number of Incidents per 1,000 students | Max Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrests for Major Crimes | 0 | 164 | 0.00 | 333.33 |
| Arrests for Possession | 0 | 64 | 0.00 | 111.11 |
| Violence Against Women | 1 | 100 | 0.03 | 194.44 |
| Disciplinary Actions | 0 | 144 | 0.00 | 305.56 |
The chart below shows what percentage of Columbia crime and safety incidents on affiliated off-campus properties are in each category.
In order to make this data a little clearer, the table below shows the number of incidents by category and the maximum number of incidents reported by a school in that category.
| Category | Number of Incidents | Max Number of Incidents (at any school) | Number of Incidents per 1,000 students | Max Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrests for Major Crimes | 49 | 167 | 1.56 | 101.80 |
| Arrests for Possession | 2 | 715 | 0.06 | 180.35 |
| Violence Against Women | 48 | 140 | 1.53 | 53.89 |
| Disciplinary Actions | 344 | 2,507 | 10.94 | 4,029.94 |
The chart below shows what percentage of Columbia crime and safety incidents in residence halls are in each category.
In order to make this data a little clearer, the table below shows the number of incidents by category and the maximum number of incidents reported by a school in that category.
| Category | Number of Incidents | Max Number of Incidents (at any school) | Number of Incidents per 1,000 students | Max Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrests for Major Crimes | 20 | 67 | 0.64 | 666.67 |
| Arrests for Possession | 0 | 245 | 0.00 | 1,294.12 |
| Violence Against Women | 0 | 24 | 0.00 | 555.56 |
| Disciplinary Actions | 0 | 137 | 0.00 | 137.93 |
The chart below shows what percentage of Columbia student-related crime and safety incidents in the New York neighborhood surrounding the campus are in each category.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.