The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Huntsville, AL
Huntsville is the largest city in Alabama, with 209,700 residents in Madison County · Updated November 2026
Is Huntsville, AL safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B, Huntsville has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 74% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, B+ against B-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Huntsville run from A+ to F, so check the map below.
B
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 637 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
26% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Huntsville as a whole, and 74% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Huntsville scores 637.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Huntsville, AL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Huntsville, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in Huntsville
Robbery is a strength. Huntsville grades B- for violent crime, but robbery grades A.
Simple assaults run high. Huntsville has simple assaults at more than double the US rate: 22.7 a year per 1,000 residents, against 9.7 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Huntsville
Safety changes a lot from one part of Huntsville to the next: 65% of residents live in areas graded A or B, while 24% live in areas graded D or F. Grades across Huntsville run from A+ to F; 36% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
65%11%24%
A or B 65%C 11%D or F 24%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Huntsville, the southeast side has the least crime and the north side the most.
Crime rates and types in Huntsville
CrimeGrade™ estimates Huntsville has about 63 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 68% more than the US as a whole and 56% more than Alabama.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
The largest share of crime reported in Huntsville is assault, about 43% of the total. It also makes up the largest share of what crime costs here.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when crime happens in Huntsville
Huntsville has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Huntsville, 69% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 46% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (69%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (46%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (46%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (57%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (35%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (54%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Huntsville compares with nearby cities
Huntsville has the most crime of its 8 nearest cities.
Two things set Huntsville apart: it has 77 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 15.5 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft and robbery, and they run high here.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.77 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 91% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.15.5 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 89% of US city residents
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft and assault. 85% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (14 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 61% of US city residents
Show all 6
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.9.0% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 80% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.2.3 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 70% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.12% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 57% of US city residents
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Huntsville
Crime costs Huntsville about $1,814 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 50% more than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $156 million a year.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost rises to about $522 million a year, or $2,490 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$36 million
$173
Rape
$6.5 million
$31
Robbery
$3.8 million
$18
Assault
$59 million
$284
Burglary
$6.8 million
$32
Theft
$21 million
$100
Vehicle theft
$9.3 million
$44
Arson
$420,000
$2
Vandalism
$13 million
$61
Total
$156 million
$745
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Huntsville means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Huntsville, AL average a SchoolGrade of B-: 44% of students test proficient, against 37% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Huntsville on SchoolGrade
