The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Athens, GA
Athens is a community of 128,000 in Clarke County and the main city of the Athens metro area, home to 220,200 · Updated November 2026
Is Athens, GA safe?
Mostly, yes. Crime in Athens is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A-, but most US neighborhoods are safer still: Athens has more crime than the neighborhoods where 61% of Americans live. Violent crime grades B+ and property crime A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Athens run from A+ to D-, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 771 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
39% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Athens as a whole, and 61% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Athens scores 771.
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 Athens, GA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Athens, 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 Athens
Car thefts are less common than the crime level suggests. Crime overall in Athens runs 27% above the US rate, but car thefts run 37% below it: 1.7 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 nationally.
Aggravated assaults run high for an A-graded city. Athens has 3.2 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 1.2.
The safest and least safe parts of Athens
Most of Athens grades well: 93% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 3% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Athens run from A+ to D-; 27% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
93%
A or B 93%C 4%D or F 3%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Athens, the southwest side has the least crime and the east side the most.
Crime rates and types in Athens
CrimeGrade™ estimates Athens has about 47 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 27% more than the US as a whole and 30% more than Georgia.
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.
Theft is the most common crime in Athens, about 42% of everything reported, but assault costs more, because each one does more harm.
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.
How Athens compares with nearby cities
Athens has the most crime of its 9 nearest cities.
Athens looks like a typical city on the traits that tend to go with crime.
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Athens: F (1 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.13.6 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 80% 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. 78% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (18 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 54% 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.76% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 74% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.57 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 72% 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.18% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 54% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Athens 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 crime costs Athens
Crime costs Athens about $1,229 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, about the same as the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $63 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 $187 million a year, or $1,458 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$8.9 million
$70
Rape
$3.4 million
$26
Robbery
$1.6 million
$13
Assault
$26 million
$203
Burglary
$2.8 million
$22
Theft
$13 million
$102
Vehicle theft
$3.4 million
$26
Arson
$370,000
$3
Vandalism
$3.1 million
$24
Total
$63 million
$489
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 Athens 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 Athens, GA average a SchoolGrade of C+: 40% of students test proficient, against 42% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Athens on SchoolGrade
