Blacksburg is a town of 54,800 in Montgomery County and the main city of the Blacksburg metro area, home to 181,700 · Updated November 2026
How common is property crime in Blacksburg?
Blacksburg earns an A for property crime, safer than the neighborhoods where 63% of Americans live. Theft makes up 47% of it. Burglary, the crime most likely to reach into a home, grades A+, and vehicle theft grades A+.
A
Property crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 879 of 1,000Less property crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
63% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more property crime than Blacksburg as a whole, and 37% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a property crime safety score of 823, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Blacksburg scores 879.
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 property crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its property crime with the homes, parked cars and people there, on one national scale, from green for the least 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 Blacksburg, VA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Blacksburg, 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 about property crime in Blacksburg
Thefts run high in Kabrich Crescent & Northside Park. In this part of north Blacksburg, they run at about double the rate in the rest of Blacksburg.
Burglaries are uncommon. Blacksburg has burglaries at a small fraction of the US rate: 0.68 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.4 nationally.
Where property crime is lowest and highest in Blacksburg
Every part of Blacksburg where people live grades A or B for property crime on the national scale. Property crime grades across Blacksburg run from A+ to B+.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the property crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
1Hethwood-Prices Fork, southwestThefts run about 40% lower here than in the rest of Blacksburg.A908
2Ellett-Jennelle, southeastClose to the rest of Blacksburg on most crimes.A870
3Tom's Creek & Shenandoah, northwestThefts run about 70% higher here than in the rest of Blacksburg.A861
4Kabrich Crescent & Northside Park, northClose to the rest of Blacksburg on most crimes.A-841
5Downtown Blacksburg & Downtown Blacksburg Eastside, centralActs of vandalism run about 90% higher here than in the rest of Blacksburg.A-820
Neighborhood areas of Blacksburg, ranked by property crime CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Is property crime going up in Blacksburg?
Reported property crime in Blacksburg has risen 14% since 2019. Burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 6.3 to 7.2 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). Property crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Property crime, change since 2019
BlacksburgUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Blacksburg. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, Blacksburg
Property, US
2016
+47%
+15%
2017
+21%
+12%
2018
+15%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
+9%
-8%
2021
-5%
-10%
2022
-7%
-6%
2023
+8%
-7%
2024
+14%
-15%
Property crime rates and types in Blacksburg
CrimeGrade™ estimates Blacksburg has about 12 reported property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 48% less than the US as a whole and 43% less than Virginia.
All property crime
Burglary
Vehicle theft
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. Property crime here includes vandalism, which the FBI's property crime rate leaves out.
Theft is the most common property crime in Blacksburg, about 47% of the total, followed by vandalism and burglary.
Each CrimeGrade™ here compares a property crime with what it affects: homes for burglary and arson, parked cars for vehicle theft, people and parking for theft, homes and businesses for vandalism. 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 property crime happens in Blacksburg
Blacksburg has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Blacksburg, 85% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (85%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (69%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Parking lots and garages (37%)
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.
Property crime in Blacksburg and nearby cities
Of the 7 cities closest to Blacksburg, 5 have less property crime. McDonalds Mill and Newport have the least.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Blacksburg. Beside each property crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with cities of similar size and density, Blacksburg is safer than 79% of them.
Transit, empty homes and walkability in Blacksburg
Among the traits that tend to go with property crime, two set Blacksburg apart: it has 148 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby, and 15.9% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft, yet theft runs lower here than that would suggest.
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Blacksburg: D+ (19 of 100).148 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 99% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.15.9% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 97% 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. 67% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (22 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 66% of US city residents
Show all 6
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.6.9 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 81% of US city residents
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.75% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 75% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more car theft.38% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 74% 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 property crime costs Blacksburg
Property crime costs Blacksburg about $4.5 million a year, or $82 per resident and about $237 per household: the value of what is stolen or damaged, plus the police, courts and prisons that respond.
Cost of property crime per resident, per year
How the cost breaks down
Pain and suffering add little to the cost of property crime, so this is close to its full cost.
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Burglary
$340,000
$6
Theft
$1.6 million
$30
Vehicle theft
$290,000
$5
Arson
$41,000
$1
Vandalism
$2.2 million
$39
Total
$4.5 million
$82
How CrimeGrade™ works
The property crime CrimeGrade™ covers burglary, theft, car theft, arson and vandalism, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most, on one scale for the whole country.
It weighs each property crime against what it affects: homes for burglary and arson, parked cars for car theft, and the people and parking around stores for theft.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them. Blacksburg is the other kind of example: few people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks lower than its CrimeGrade™ suggests.
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.
