Safest College Campuses In California: LIST

CALIFORNIA – The National Council for Home Safety and Security has released its annual rankings of the safest college campuses in the country, and only one campus in California even came close to cracking the top 10.

California State University San Marcos in northern San Diego County is the safest college campus in California and the 13th safest in the country, according to the study.

"Keeping our students safe is the university police department's No. 1 priority," Cal State San Marcos police Chief Scott Ybarrondo said in a statement. "There are enough stresses in college life, and worrying about your safety on campus should not be one of them. We are committed to ensuring CSUSM remains one of the safest universities in the nation."

Out of 243 ranked colleges and universities, two dozen California campuses landed on the list. At 44th place, the University of California, Irvine in Orange County claimed the next highest spot in the state.

The Mormon-run Brigham Young University-Idaho topped the national list.

The National Council for Home Safety and Security compiled its rankings using data from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting and the Campus Safety and Security Survey administered by the U.S. Department of Education. Most schools with at least 10,000 students were ranked by looking at violent and property crime rates for the cities in which the schools are located and the number of law enforcement officers employed by the institution.

See how other California campuses ranked below. National rankings are in parenthesis. Click here to see the full list.

1. Cal State San Marcos (13)
2. UC Irvine (44)
3. Cal State Fullerton (59)
4. Cal State Dominguez Hills (67)
5. UC San Diego (71)
6. Cal State East Bay (75)
7. Cal State LA (83)
8. UC Davis (85)
9. Cal State Northridge (87)
10. San Jose State University (90)
11. San Diego State University (97)
12. Cal State Long Beach (101)
13. Cal Poly Pomona (106)
14. Sacramento State University (127)
15. UC Santa Barbara (151)
16. UC Riverside (161)
17. UC Los Angeles (162)
18. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (163)
19. CSU Chico (164)
20. Fresno State University (186)
21. Cal State San Bernardino (196)
22. UC Berkeley (209)
23. San Francisco State University (220)
24. UC Santa Cruz (234)

Photo via Cal State San Marcos