Crime Grade · FBI UCR Data · 2025
Lake Charles, LA Crime Grade
How Lake Charles grades for violent crime against every other reporting U.S. city — and against the rest of Louisiana — based on the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting data.
National
10/10
vs. all U.S. cities ≥ 25,000 population
Louisiana
6/10
vs. Louisiana cities ≥ 10,000 population
In 2025, the violent crime rate in Lake Charles, LA was 663.9 per 100,000 residents (533 incidents over a population of 80,280). That puts Lake Charles Infinity% above the U.S. rate of 0.0 and 42% above the Louisiana statewide rate of 466.0.
That ranks Lake Charles #3,485 of 3,771 ranked U.S. cities, safer than 8% of them, and #19 of 35 in Louisiana. Violent crime is up 8% year over year and up 17% over the last five years.
Lake Charles, LA crime — key facts
- National Crime Grade
- F (10/10)
- Louisiana Grade
- C (6/10)
- Violent crime rate
- 663.9 / 100k
- National rank
- #3,485 of 3,771
- LA rank
- #19 of 35
- Safer than
- 8% of U.S. cities
- Year over year
- up 8%
- 5-year change
- up 17%
- Population
- 80,280
- Reporting agency
- Lake Charles Police Department
- Data year
- 2025 · FBI UCR
Reported by Lake Charles Police Department (FBI ORI LA0100200) to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Download the full dataset (CSV) · methodology.
About Lake Charles, LA
Also known as
- Charlestown
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. Lake Charles (red), Louisiana (blue), U.S. average (gray dashed).
Lake Charles 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 | 568.0(449) | 629.4(485) | 638.8(488) | 616.8(481) | 663.9(533) |
| Murder | 11.4(9) | 18.2(14) | 13.1(10) | 16.7(13) | 17.4(14) |
| Rape | 48.1(38) | 41.5(32) | 47.1(36) | 55.1(43) | 42.4(34) |
| Robbery | 49.3(39) | 68.8(53) | 72.0(55) | 64.1(50) | 69.8(56) |
| Aggravated assault | 459.2(363) | 500.9(386) | 506.6(387) | 480.9(375) | 534.4(429) |
| Property crime | 2767.8(2,188) | 3126.4(2,409) | 2946.6(2,251) | 2485.2(1,938) | 2407.8(1,933) |
| Burglary | 575.6(455) | 698.2(538) | 723.9(553) | 616.8(481) | 495.8(398) |
| Larceny | 1907.6(1,508) | 2136.2(1,646) | 1934.7(1,478) | 1661.9(1,296) | 1738.9(1,396) |
| Motor vehicle theft | 279.6(221) | 288.1(222) | 285.4(218) | 206.5(161) | 169.4(136) |
How the Crime Grade is calculated
- What is the source of the Lake Charles, LA 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 Lake Charles 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 Lake Charles calculated?
- Lake Charles's rate placed against all FBI-reporting U.S. cities with population ≥ 25,000. 1 = safest.
- How is the Louisiana state decile calculated?
- Same calculation restricted to Louisiana 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 Lake Charles 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 Louisiana
Comparable Louisiana cities by population.
Compare Lake Charles to other places
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