Berkeley is a city of 8,270 in St. Louis County, about 11 miles northwest of downtown St. Louis · Updated November 2026
Is Berkeley, MO safe?
Berkeley is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of F, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 96% of Americans live. Violent crime grades F and property crime D. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Berkeley run from C to F, so check the map below.
F
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 0 of 1,000Less safe than nearly all US neighborhoodsi What this means
4% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Berkeley as a whole, and 96% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Berkeley scores 0.
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 Berkeley, MO at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Berkeley, 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 Berkeley
Car thefts and aggravated assaults both run high. In Berkeley, each runs at more than triple the US rate: 22.0 car thefts and 20.1 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 and 2.6 nationally.
Crime rates and types in Berkeley
CrimeGrade™ estimates Berkeley has about 149 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than triple the rate for the US as a whole and more than triple the rate for Missouri.
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.
Assault is the most common crime in Berkeley, about 33% of everything reported.
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 Berkeley
Berkeley has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Berkeley, 66% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 39% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (66%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Homes (32%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (39%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Homes (40%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (37%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (48%)
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 Berkeley compares with nearby cities
Berkeley has the most crime of its 7 nearest cities.
Two things set Berkeley apart: it has 286 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 5.5 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. It also combines many jobs with busy transit: places with both tend to report more theft and robbery than places with only one of them, and robbery runs high here.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.286 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 99% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.5.5 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 98% 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. 87% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (16 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 54% of US city residents
Show all 6
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.12.9% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 93% 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.100% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 92% of US city residents
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 Berkeley: D+ (22 of 100).5 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 72% 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 crime costs Berkeley
Crime costs Berkeley about $8,161 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, more than triple 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 $117 million a year, or $14,118 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$11 million
$1,346
Rape
$470,000
$57
Robbery
$650,000
$79
Assault
$6.4 million
$778
Burglary
$680,000
$82
Theft
$1.3 million
$163
Vehicle theft
$2.8 million
$337
Arson
$49,000
$6
Vandalism
$1.9 million
$235
Total
$25 million
$3,083
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 Berkeley 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 Berkeley, MO average a SchoolGrade of F: 24% of students test proficient, against 18% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Berkeley on SchoolGrade
