The Buffalo metro area, the 51st-largest in the US, is home to 1.16 million residents; Buffalo itself is the second-largest city in New York · Updated November 2026
How common is property crime in the Buffalo area?
The Buffalo area earns a B+ for property crime, with more property crime than the neighborhoods where 64% of Americans live. Theft makes up 52% of it. Burglary, the crime most likely to reach into a home, grades A, and vehicle theft grades A-. The city of Buffalo itself grades C for property crime.
B+
Property crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 727 of 1,000More property crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
36% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more property crime than the Buffalo area as a whole, and 64% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a property crime safety score of 823, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. The Buffalo area scores 727.
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 Buffalo, NY at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in the Buffalo area, 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 the Buffalo area
One part of Buffalo stands out for vehicle theft. Car thefts in Front Park, Forest & Grant Ferry, in west Buffalo, run at more than double the rate in the rest of the city.
Where property crime is lowest and highest in the Buffalo area
Property crime varies widely across the Buffalo area: 69% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 24% in areas graded D or F. Property crime grades across the Buffalo area run from A+ to F.
69%24%
A or B 69%C 7%D or F 24%
Share of residents, by the property crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Neighborhoods of Buffalo
1Kensington, northeastCar thefts run at a small fraction of the rate in the rest of Buffalo.A-794
8Grider, Hamlin Park & Leroy, centralCar thefts run at more than double the rate in the rest of Buffalo.F0
9Schiller Park & Kenfield, eastCar thefts run at more than double the rate in the rest of Buffalo.F0
Neighborhood areas of the city of Buffalo, 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.
Cities and towns in the Buffalo metro area with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by property crime CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Is property crime going up in the Buffalo area?
Reported property crime in the Buffalo area has held about steady since 2019, within 10%. Burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 19 to 21 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). Property crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Property crime, change since 2019
Buffalo areaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across the Buffalo area. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, Buffalo area
Property, US
2016
+29%
+15%
2017
+17%
+12%
2018
+11%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
+2%
-8%
2021
-12%
-10%
2022
+6%
-6%
2023
+21%
-7%
2024
+10%
-15%
Property crime rates and types in the Buffalo area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the Buffalo area has about 29 reported property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 22% more than the US as a whole and 28% more than New York.
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 the Buffalo area, about 52% of the total, followed by vandalism and vehicle theft.
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.
Property crime in the Buffalo area and nearby metro areas
The Buffalo area has the most property crime of its 10 nearest metro areas.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the Buffalo area. Beside each property crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with metro areas of similar size and density, the Buffalo area has more property crime than 76% of them.
Empty homes, night lighting and density in the Buffalo area
The Buffalo area looks like a typical metro area on the traits that tend to go with property crime.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary.6.7% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 63% of Americans in metro areas
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.84% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 61% of Americans in metro areas
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more car theft.24% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 51% of Americans in metro areas
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 the Buffalo area
Property crime costs the Buffalo area about $243 million a year, or $209 per resident and about $490 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
$21 million
$18
Theft
$89 million
$77
Vehicle theft
$57 million
$49
Arson
$3.2 million
$3
Vandalism
$72 million
$62
Total
$243 million
$209
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.
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. These figures cover the whole Buffalo metro area. 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
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.
