Crime Grade · FBI UCR Data · 2025
Boston, MA Crime Grade
How Boston grades for violent crime against every other reporting U.S. city — and against the rest of Massachusetts — based on the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting data.
National
9/10
vs. all U.S. cities ≥ 25,000 population
Massachusetts
10/10
vs. Massachusetts cities ≥ 10,000 population
In 2025, the violent crime rate in Boston, MA was 573.4 per 100,000 residents (3,849 incidents over a population of 671,262). That puts Boston Infinity% above the U.S. rate of 0.0 and 89% above the Massachusetts statewide rate of 303.5.
That ranks Boston #3,388 of 3,771 ranked U.S. cities, safer than 10% of them, and #177 of 186 in Massachusetts. Violent crime is down 9% year over year and up 2% over the last five years.
Boston, MA crime — key facts
- National Crime Grade
- F (9/10)
- Massachusetts Grade
- F (10/10)
- Violent crime rate
- 573.4 / 100k
- National rank
- #3,388 of 3,771
- MA rank
- #177 of 186
- Safer than
- 10% of U.S. cities
- Year over year
- down 9%
- 5-year change
- up 2%
- Population
- 671,262
- Reporting agency
- Boston Police Department
- Data year
- 2025 · FBI UCR
Reported by Boston Police Department (FBI ORI MA0130100) to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Download the full dataset (CSV) · methodology.
About Boston, MA
Also known as
- Shawnnut
- Totant
- Trimountaine
- Wahstoronòn:ke
- Mushauwomuk
- Wastok
- Tramount
- Trimountain
History
Present name adopted in 1630. The variant name, "Wahstoronòn:ke", is a Mohawk name which translates to: "place of the people of Boston".
Location
Located on a point of land extending NE into Boston Inner Harbor between the Charles River and Fort Point Channel 40 mi ENE of Worcester; the Capital of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
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. Boston (red), Massachusetts (blue), U.S. average (gray dashed).
Boston 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 | 564.0(3,975) | 635.3(4,059) | 633.1(4,070) | 629.1(4,146) | 573.4(3,849) |
| Murder | 5.1(36) | 7.2(46) | 5.4(35) | 3.8(25) | 3.9(26) |
| Rape | 34.1(240) | 31.8(203) | 34.5(222) | 26.1(172) | 22.0(148) |
| Robbery | 110.1(776) | 121.9(779) | 137.1(881) | 126.5(834) | 113.1(759) |
| Aggravated assault | 414.8(2,923) | 474.4(3,031) | 456.1(2,932) | 472.7(3,115) | 434.4(2,916) |
| Property crime | 1670.8(11,775) | 1832.0(11,705) | 1965.1(12,632) | 2029.6(13,376) | 1869.6(12,550) |
| Burglary | 194.3(1,369) | 193.3(1,235) | 181.4(1,166) | 179.3(1,182) | 154.8(1,039) |
| Larceny | 1307.3(9,213) | 1446.8(9,244) | 1598.4(10,275) | 1690.0(11,138) | 1632.7(10,960) |
| Motor vehicle theft | 165.6(1,167) | 186.9(1,194) | 181.1(1,164) | 157.2(1,036) | 76.6(514) |
How the Crime Grade is calculated
- What is the source of the Boston, MA 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 Boston 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 Boston calculated?
- Boston's rate placed against all FBI-reporting U.S. cities with population ≥ 25,000. 1 = safest.
- How is the Massachusetts state decile calculated?
- Same calculation restricted to Massachusetts 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 Boston 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 Massachusetts
Comparable Massachusetts cities by population.
Compare Boston 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.