Boston, MA crime rate
In 2025 the Boston Police Department reported 583.2 violent crimes and 1,930.8 property crimes per 100,000 residents it covers. The FBI's estimates for Massachusetts and the US for the same year are beside each number.
Data as of 2025 (FBI), checked October 30, 2026. How we got these numbers
How does Boston compare with Massachusetts and the US?
Arson has no FBI state or US estimate, so its row shows Boston only.
What offenses were reported in Boston, 2025?
| Offense | Reported | Per 100k | Massachusetts | US | vs 2024 | vs 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crime | ||||||
| Violent crime | 3,915 | 583.2 | 302.7 | 327.6 | down 7.5% | up 3.3% |
| Murder | 24 | 3.6 | 1.4 | 4.1 | down 5.3% | down 32.1% |
| Rape | 153 | 22.8 | 26.8 | 36.1 | down 13.6% | down 33.1% |
| Robbery | 762 | 113.5 | 34.1 | 49.4 | down 10.4% | up 2.9% |
| Aggravated assault | 2,976 | 443.3 | 240.4 | 238.0 | down 6.4% | up 6.9% |
| Property crime | ||||||
| Property crime | 12,961 | 1,930.8 | 1,031.2 | 1,534.8 | down 4.9% | up 15.6% |
| Burglary | 1,065 | 158.7 | 112.8 | 193.6 | down 11.7% | down 18.3% |
| Larceny-theft | 11,103 | 1,654.0 | 830.4 | 1,144.1 | down 2.2% | up 26.5% |
| Motor vehicle theft | 755 | 112.5 | 88.0 | 197.0 | down 28.5% | down 32.1% |
| Arson | 38 | 5.7 | Not estimated | Not estimated | up 90.0% | up 54.1% |
Reported = offenses known to the Boston Police Department and sent to the FBI. Massachusetts and US are FBI estimates for the same year. Changes compare rates of full years only.
Violent crime rate, 2021 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Boston | United States | Massachusetts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 564.3 | 387.0 | 301.1 |
| 2022 | 635.8 | 388.7 | 324.2 |
| 2023 | 633.8 | 379.5 | 320.9 |
| 2024 | 630.3 | 362.9 | 317.1 |
| 2025 | 583.2 | 327.6 | 302.7 |
Property crime rate, 2021 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Boston | United States | Massachusetts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,670.9 | 1,832.3 | 1,000.3 |
| 2022 | 1,832.0 | 1,973.8 | 1,074.8 |
| 2023 | 1,966.2 | 1,934.1 | 1,119.3 |
| 2024 | 2,031.0 | 1,761.1 | 1,117.1 |
| 2025 | 1,930.8 | 1,534.8 | 1,031.2 |
Is Boston safe?
We don't rate cities as safe or unsafe. What the FBI's numbers show: in 2025 the violent crime rate the Boston Police Department reported, 583.2 per 100,000 residents, was higher than Massachusetts's 302.7, and higher than the US rate of 327.6 (FBI estimates). It fell 7.5% from 2024.
What these numbers can't tell you:
- How crime differs between neighborhoods (the FBI publishes agency totals only).
- Crimes nobody reported to the police.
- How many offenses involved visitors and commuters, who are not in the population count.
Crimes reported to the FBI by Boston police in 2025 came to 3,915 violent and 12,961 property offenses. For violent crime that is 583.2 per 100,000 residents covered by the Boston Police Department, 1.9 times the Massachusetts estimate of 302.7 and 1.8 times the US rate of 327.6. Property crime ran at 1,930.8, which is 1.9 times the state's 1,031.2 and 1.3 times the national 1,534.8.
In the last year violent crime fell 7.5% and property crime 4.9%. Both are higher than in 2021, violent crime by 3.3% and property crime by 15.6%. Rape fell the most of the violent offenses in both spans, 13.6% from 2024 and 33.1% from 2021.
Aggravated assault had the largest rise since 2021, 6.9%, and made up 76% of violent crime. The 24 homicides put the murder rate at 3.6 per 100,000, below the US rate of 4.1. Motor vehicle theft fell the most of the property offenses, 28.5% from 2024 and 32.1% from 2021.
Larceny-theft made up 86% of property crime and was 26.5% higher than in 2021. Burglary, at 158.7 per 100,000, was below the US rate of 193.6. The department reported all 12 months for each of the 5 years shown and has used NIBRS since 2019.
Boston University, its medical center police and the University of Massachusetts Boston campus police report separately.
Written from the numbers on this page. Every figure and every comparison is checked against the stored FBI data before publishing.
Police employees, 2025: 4.11 per 1,000 residents (2,172 officers, 585 civilians), FBI Crime Data Explorer. Shown as context, not as a measure of crime.
Sources
- FBI Crime Data Explorer, Boston Police Department (ORI MA0130100), offenses known to law enforcement and police employees, 2021 to 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026. Crime Data Explorer
- FBI Crime Data Explorer, Massachusetts and United States estimated crime (Summary Reporting System estimates), 2021 to 2025.
- FBI, "UCR Statistics: Their Proper Use" (why we don't rank cities).
Every stored file behind this page (11)
- Boston Police Department (MA0130100): violent crime, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_MA0130100_violent_crime__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Boston Police Department (MA0130100): murder, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_MA0130100_homicide__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Boston Police Department (MA0130100): rape, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_MA0130100_rape__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Boston Police Department (MA0130100): robbery, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_MA0130100_robbery__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Boston Police Department (MA0130100): aggravated assault, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_MA0130100_aggravated_assault__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Boston Police Department (MA0130100): property crime, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_MA0130100_property_crime__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Boston Police Department (MA0130100): burglary, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_MA0130100_burglary__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Boston Police Department (MA0130100): larceny-theft, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_MA0130100_larceny__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Boston Police Department (MA0130100): motor vehicle theft, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_MA0130100_motor_vehicle_theft__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Boston Police Department (MA0130100): arson, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_MA0130100_arson__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Boston Police Department (MA0130100): police employees, 2021 to 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/pe_agency_MA0130100__from-2021-to-2025.json)