Crime Grade · FBI UCR Data · 2025
Bowling Green, KY Crime Grade
How Bowling Green grades for violent crime against every other reporting U.S. city — and against the rest of Kentucky — based on the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting data.
National
6/10
vs. all U.S. cities ≥ 25,000 population
Kentucky
6/10
vs. Kentucky cities ≥ 10,000 population
In 2025, the violent crime rate in Bowling Green, KY was 183.1 per 100,000 residents (148 incidents over a population of 80,821). That puts Bowling Green 44% below the U.S. rate of 325.3 and 8% below the Kentucky statewide rate of 198.5.
That ranks Bowling Green #1,916 of 3,771 ranked U.S. cities, safer than 49% of them, and #22 of 41 in Kentucky. Violent crime is down 19% year over year and down 47% over the last five years.
Bowling Green, KY crime — key facts
- National Crime Grade
- C (6/10)
- Kentucky Grade
- C (6/10)
- Violent crime rate
- 183.1 / 100k
- National rank
- #1,916 of 3,771
- KY rank
- #22 of 41
- Safer than
- 49% of U.S. cities
- Year over year
- down 19%
- 5-year change
- down 47%
- Population
- 80,821
- Reporting agency
- Bowling Green Police Department
- Data year
- 2025 · FBI UCR
Reported by Bowling Green Police Department (FBI ORI KY1140100) to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Download the full dataset (CSV) · methodology.
About Bowling Green, KY
Also known as
- Bowlinggreen
Name history sourced from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) — public-domain federal geographic-names data.
Violent crime rate, 5-year trend
Per 100,000 residents. Bowling Green (red), Kentucky (blue), U.S. average (gray dashed).
Bowling Green vs. U.S., 2025 — by offense
Rates per 100,000 residents for each offense category.
Full data, last 5 years
Rates per 100,000 residents. Raw counts in parentheses.
| Offense | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crime | 346.7(249) | 302.3(225) | 241.5(184) | 227.1(176) | 183.1(148) |
| Murder | 9.7(7) | 5.4(4) | 5.2(4) | 1.3(1) | 2.5(2) |
| Rape | 108.6(78) | 99.4(74) | 80.1(61) | 95.5(74) | 68.1(55) |
| Robbery | 73.8(53) | 75.2(56) | 32.8(25) | 46.4(36) | 28.5(23) |
| Aggravated assault | 154.5(111) | 122.3(91) | 123.4(94) | 83.9(65) | 84.1(68) |
| Property crime | 3860.7(2,773) | 3881.7(2,889) | 3002.9(2,288) | 2983.1(2,312) | 2232.1(1,804) |
| Burglary | 540.2(388) | 479.7(357) | 355.7(271) | 344.5(267) | 256.1(207) |
| Larceny | 2830.5(2,033) | 2990.9(2,226) | 2414.9(1,840) | 2359.9(1,829) | 1779.2(1,438) |
| Motor vehicle theft | 476.2(342) | 397.7(296) | 228.4(174) | 269.7(209) | 193.0(156) |
How the Crime Grade is calculated
- What is the source of the Bowling Green, KY Crime Grade?
- FBI Uniform Crime Reporting via the Crime Data Explorer. Agency-level data, pulled directly. No third-party aggregators, no proprietary score.
- What metric does the Bowling Green Crime Grade use?
- Violent crime rate per 100,000 residents (murder + rape + robbery + aggravated assault), most recent fully-reported year.
- How is the national decile for Bowling Green calculated?
- Bowling Green's rate placed against all FBI-reporting U.S. cities with population ≥ 25,000. 1 = safest.
- How is the Kentucky state decile calculated?
- Same calculation restricted to Kentucky cities with population ≥ 10,000.
- How do decile scores convert to a letter grade?
- 1–3 = A · 4–5 = B · 6–7 = C · 8 = D · 9–10 = F.
- How often is the Bowling Green Crime Grade refreshed?
- Twice a year. The FBI typically releases the prior year's full data each September.
- What are the limits of this Crime Grade?
- The FBI relies on local agency reporting. Rates reflect what was reported, not what occurred.
Nearby cities in Kentucky
Comparable Kentucky cities by population.
Compare Bowling Green to other places
Want crime data for your application?
SpotCrime's Real-Time Crime Data API delivers incident-level data, not just aggregate grades. Used by family-safety apps, real-estate platforms, executive protection teams, and government agencies.