Central is a neighborhood of 12,700 residents in Cleveland, close to downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Central in Cleveland safe?
Central is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of F, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 97% of Americans live. Violent crime grades F and property crime D-. Cleveland as a whole grades F. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Central run from D+ 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
3% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Central as a whole, and 97% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Central 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 Central, Cleveland, OH at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Central in Cleveland, 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 Central
Reported rape stands out among F-graded neighborhoods. For the typical resident of an F-graded US neighborhood, the figure is 0.55 reported rapes a year per 1,000 residents; Central has 1.7.
Robberies and car thefts both run high. In Central, each runs at more than triple the US rate: 5.3 robberies and 12.9 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.62 and 2.7 nationally.
How Central compares within Cleveland
Every part of Central grades D or F on the national scale. Grades across Central run from D+ to F; every part of Central has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
100%
D or F 100%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Central has less crime than 15 of the 34 neighborhoods in Cleveland. It covers much of the Downtown Cleveland, Central, and Hough areas and the Tremont, North Broadway, and Kinsmith areas.
Is crime going up in Cleveland?
Reported violent crime in Cleveland as a whole peaked in 2021 and has fallen 12% since, back near its 2019 level. Property crime is down 3% from 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults stayed at about 15 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 45 to 44 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
ClevelandUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Cleveland. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Cleveland
Violent, US
Property, Cleveland
Property, US
2016
+10%
+4%
+19%
+15%
2017
-5%
+4%
+10%
+12%
2018
+2%
+0%
-1%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+12%
+4%
-6%
-8%
2021
+15%
+6%
-11%
-10%
2022
+6%
+5%
-3%
-6%
2023
+10%
+2%
+7%
-7%
2024
+1%
-4%
-3%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Central
CrimeGrade™ estimates Central has about 137 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than triple the rate for the US as a whole and close to Cleveland 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.
Assault is the most common crime in Central, about 41% 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 Cleveland
The Cleveland Police Department polices Central; these figures cover Cleveland as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Cleveland as a whole, 71% 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 (71%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (40%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (39%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (32%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (39%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (46%)
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 Central compares with nearby neighborhoods
Central has less crime than 5 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods.
Two things set Central apart: it has 78 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and a Walk Grade of B (62 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report more theft and robbery, and they run high here.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.2.6 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 92% of residents of US city neighborhoods
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.78 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 83% 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.B (62 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 72% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.9.6% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 77% 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 Central
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Central about $6,074 a year per household, 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 $124 million a year, or $9,758 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 Central 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
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 Central, Cleveland, OH average a SchoolGrade of F: 20% of students test proficient, against 14% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Central on SchoolGrade
