Ball Square is a neighborhood of 7,550 residents in Somerville, close to downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Ball Square in Somerville safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+, Ball Square has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 65% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A+ against C. Somerville as a whole grades A-. Its neighborhoods are much alike, from A- to B; see the map below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 746 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
35% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Ball Square as a whole, and 65% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Ball Square scores 746.
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 Ball Square, Somerville, MA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Ball Square in Somerville, 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 Ball Square
Burglary is a strength. Ball Square grades C for property crime, but burglary grades A.
Thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In Somerville as a whole, 60% of reported thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks, against 18% nationally.
Crime rates and types in Ball Square
CrimeGrade™ estimates Ball Square has about 14 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 62% less than the US as a whole and 44% less than Somerville as a whole.
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 Ball Square, about 49% 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.
Where and when crime happens in Somerville
The Somerville Police Department polices Ball Square; these figures cover Somerville as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Somerville as a whole, 66% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (66%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (54%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (60%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Streets and sidewalks (35%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (36%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (35%)
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.
How Ball Square compares with nearby neighborhoods
Ball Square has more crime than 9 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods. North Cambridge and West Somerville have the least crime nearby.
Two things set Ball Square apart: it has 0.0 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 8 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report less theft, yet theft runs higher here than that would suggest.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.under 1 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 96% of residents of US city neighborhoods
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.8 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 92% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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. 93% of residents here live in walkable areas.A (90 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 92% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.98% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 89% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 Ball Square
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Ball Square about $347 a year per household, 71% less than the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $2.2 million a year, or $291 per resident.
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 Ball Square 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. Ball Square 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.
Schools in Ball Square, Somerville, MA average a SchoolGrade of B-: 45% of students test proficient, against 50% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Ball Square on SchoolGrade
