Merriam is a city of 10,800 in Johnson County, about 8 miles southwest of downtown Kansas City · Updated November 2026
How common is property crime in Merriam?
Merriam grades C+ for property crime, with more of it than the neighborhoods where 78% of Americans live. Theft makes up 59% of it. Burglary, the crime most likely to reach into a home, grades B+, and vehicle theft grades B-.
C+
Property crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 528 of 1,000More property crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
22% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more property crime than Merriam as a whole, and 78% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a property crime safety score of 823, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Merriam scores 528.
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 Merriam, KS at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Merriam, 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 Merriam
Car thefts run high. Merriam has car thefts at more than triple the US rate: 10.0 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 nationally.
Where property crime is lowest and highest in Merriam
Areas graded C for property crime are home to 88% of residents in Merriam; 12% live in areas graded A or B and 0% in areas graded D or F. Property crime grades across Merriam run from B to C.
12%88%
A or B 12%C 88%
Share of residents, by the property crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Is property crime going up in Merriam?
Reported property crime in Merriam has risen 19% since 2019. Burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 44 to 52 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 12%.
Property crime, change since 2019
MerriamUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Merriam. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, Merriam
Property, US
2016
+12%
+15%
2017
+38%
+12%
2018
+17%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
+40%
-8%
2021
+38%
-10%
2022
+31%
-6%
2023
+35%
-7%
2024
+19%
-15%
Property crime rates and types in Merriam
CrimeGrade™ estimates Merriam has about 71 reported property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about triple the rate for the US as a whole and about double the rate for Kansas.
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 Merriam, about 59% 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.
Where and when property crime happens in Merriam
Merriam has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Merriam, 52% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Car thefts happen most often at stores and businesses: 39% of them, against 10% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (52%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Stores and businesses (39%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (45%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (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 Merriam and nearby cities
Merriam has more property crime than 8 of its 9 nearest cities. Lenexa and Prairie Village have the least property crime nearby.
Among the traits that tend to go with property crime, two set Merriam apart: it has 118 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 4.0 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft, and it runs high here.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft.118 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 98% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.4.0 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 94% 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. 75% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (20 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 61% of US city residents
Show all 6
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.100% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 92% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.14.9 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 87% 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.3.4% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 82% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Merriam on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
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 Merriam
Property crime costs Merriam about $5.6 million a year, or $513 per resident and about $1,086 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
$300,000
$28
Theft
$2.4 million
$218
Vehicle theft
$1.7 million
$154
Arson
$24,000
$2
Vandalism
$1.2 million
$111
Total
$5.6 million
$513
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. 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.
