Bethel is the ninth-largest city in Alaska, with 6,650 residents in Bethel Census Area · Updated November 2026
Is Bethel, AK safe?
Crime in Bethel is high by national standards, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of C-. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 86% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Bethel. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, B- against D+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Bethel run from A to F, so check the map below.
C-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 367 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
14% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Bethel as a whole, and 86% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Bethel scores 367.
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 Bethel, AK at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Bethel, 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 Bethel
Reported rapes run high for a C-graded city. Bethel has 3.0 reported rapes a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a C-graded US city, the figure is 0.30.
Aggravated assault at about triple the US rate. Bethel has 8.8 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
Crime rates and types in Bethel
CrimeGrade™ estimates Bethel has about 91 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than double the rate for the US as a whole and more than double the rate for Alaska.
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 Bethel, about 63% of everything reported, and it also accounts for the largest share of what crime costs here.
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.
The Bethel Police Department's yearly counts of reported rape and aggravated assault are small and swing from year to year, so CrimeGrade™ steadied them with its estimate for similar places.
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 Bethel
Bethel has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Bethel, 31% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Stores and businesses (38%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (68%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (76%)
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; they are over one in five for burglary, vandalism, aggravated assault.
How Bethel compares with nearby cities
Compared with cities of similar size and density, Bethel has more crime than 97% of them.
Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Empty homes, shops and walkability in Bethel
Two things set Bethel apart: it has 11.4% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 5.4 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson, and burglary and vandalism run high here.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.11.4% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 91% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.5.4 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 90% 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- (12 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 70% of US city residents
Show all 6
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.6 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 88% 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 Bethel: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% 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.65% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 80% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Bethel 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 Bethel
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Bethel about $3,634 a year per household, about 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 $23 million a year, or $3,443 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$370,000
$56
Rape
$1.2 million
$183
Robbery
$61,000
$9
Assault
$4.0 million
$603
Burglary
$230,000
$34
Theft
$440,000
$66
Vehicle theft
$390,000
$59
Arson
$22,000
$3
Vandalism
$440,000
$67
Total
$7.2 million
$1,081
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 Bethel 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 Bethel, AK average a SchoolGrade of F: 9% of students test proficient, against 20% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Bethel on SchoolGrade
