Van Buren is a city of 32,500 in Crawford County, about 7 miles northeast of downtown Fort Smith · Updated November 2026
How common is property crime in Van Buren?
Van Buren earns an A- for property crime, with more property crime than the neighborhoods where 53% of Americans live. Theft makes up 49% of it. Burglary, the crime most likely to reach into a home, grades B, and vehicle theft grades A+.
A-
Property crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 809 of 1,000About as much property crime as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
47% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more property crime than Van Buren as a whole, and 53% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a property crime safety score of 823, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Van Buren scores 809.
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 Van Buren, AR at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Van Buren, 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 Van Buren
Burglaries run high for a city with an A for property crime. Van Buren has 4.6 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a US city graded A for property crime, the figure is 1.2.
Car thefts happen at homes far more often than nationally. In Van Buren, 72% of reported car thefts happen at homes, against 33% nationally.
Where property crime is lowest and highest in Van Buren
Nearly every part of Van Buren where people live grades A or B for property crime on the national scale. Property crime grades across Van Buren run from A+ to C+.
99%
A or B 99%C 1%
Share of residents, by the property crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Is property crime going up in Van Buren?
Reported property crime in Van Buren has fallen 35% since 2019. Burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 32 to 21 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 28%.
Property crime, change since 2019
Van BurenUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Van Buren. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, Van Buren
Property, US
2016
+22%
+15%
2017
-5%
+12%
2018
+5%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-4%
-8%
2021
-9%
-10%
2022
-1%
-6%
2023
-10%
-7%
2024
-35%
-15%
Property crime rates and types in Van Buren
CrimeGrade™ estimates Van Buren has about 25 reported property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 5% more than the US as a whole and close to Arkansas.
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 Van Buren, about 49% 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 Van Buren
Van Buren has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Van Buren, 70% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (70%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Car theft
Homes (72%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Homes (66%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (66%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
Property crime in Van Buren and nearby cities
Van Buren has more property crime than 5 of its 7 nearest cities. Cedarville and Rudy have the least property crime nearby.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Van Buren. 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, Van Buren has more property crime than 85% of them.
Parking lots, transit and walkability in Van Buren
Among the traits that tend to go with property crime, two set Van Buren apart: it has 3.3 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 3% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places with a lot of parking-lot space tend to report more theft; here theft sits near the national middle.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.3.3 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 89% of US city residents
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Van Buren: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% 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. 89% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D- (11 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 73% of US city residents
Show all 6
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more car theft.3% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 82% 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.64% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 81% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.11.3 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 63% 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 Van Buren
Property crime costs Van Buren about $5.6 million a year, or $172 per resident and about $466 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
$1.3 million
$41
Theft
$2.1 million
$63
Vehicle theft
$580,000
$18
Arson
$38,000
$1
Vandalism
$1.6 million
$49
Total
$5.6 million
$172
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.
