The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Chelsea, MA
Chelsea is a city of 39,900 in Suffolk County, about 3 miles northeast of downtown Boston · Updated November 2026
Is Chelsea, MA safe?
Crime in Chelsea is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B-. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 80% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Chelsea. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, B- against C+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Chelsea run from B to F, so check the map below.
B-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 539 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
20% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Chelsea as a whole, and 80% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Chelsea scores 539.
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 Chelsea, MA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Chelsea, 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 Chelsea
Car thefts are less common than the crime level suggests. Crime overall in Chelsea runs 37% above the US rate, but car thefts run 48% below it: 1.4 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 nationally.
Aggravated assault stands out among B-graded cities. For the typical resident of a B-graded US city, the figure is 3.1 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents; Chelsea has 7.4.
The safest and least safe parts of Chelsea
Areas graded C are home to 50% of residents in Chelsea; 22% live in areas graded A or B and 28% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Chelsea run from B to F; every part of Chelsea has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
22%50%28%
A or B 22%C 50%D or F 28%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Chelsea, the northeast side has the least crime and the north side the most.
Is crime going up in Chelsea?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Chelsea is up 37%, while property crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 6.8 to 9.3 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 15 to 14 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 12%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
ChelseaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Chelsea. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Chelsea
Violent, US
Property, Chelsea
Property, US
2016
+35%
+4%
+51%
+15%
2017
+16%
+4%
+10%
+12%
2018
+3%
+0%
-2%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-9%
+4%
-6%
-8%
2021
+9%
+6%
+11%
-10%
2022
+13%
+5%
+15%
-6%
2023
+37%
+2%
+4%
-7%
2024
+37%
-4%
-9%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Chelsea
CrimeGrade™ estimates Chelsea has about 51 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 37% more than the US as a whole and 91% more than Massachusetts.
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 Chelsea, about 49% 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.
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 Chelsea
Chelsea has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Chelsea, 68% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 54% of them, against 18% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (68%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (44%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (54%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Streets and sidewalks (42%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (41%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (44%)
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 Chelsea compares with nearby cities
Chelsea has the most crime of its 10 nearest cities.
Two things set Chelsea apart: it has 94% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally, and a Walk Grade of B+ (70 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report more robbery and car theft, and they run high here.
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.94% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 96% 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. 63% of residents here live in walkable areas.B+ (70 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 96% 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 Chelsea: C (36 of 100).32 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 94% 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.100% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 92% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.3.1% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 85% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.7 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 84% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Chelsea 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 Chelsea
Crime costs Chelsea about $1,894 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 57% more 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 $91 million a year, or $2,286 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$2.7 million
$68
Rape
$1.9 million
$47
Robbery
$1.6 million
$40
Assault
$14 million
$340
Burglary
$530,000
$13
Theft
$2.4 million
$60
Vehicle theft
$850,000
$21
Arson
$59,000
$1
Vandalism
$2.6 million
$66
Total
$26 million
$657
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 Chelsea 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 Chelsea, MA average a SchoolGrade of F: 21% of students test proficient, against 20% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Chelsea on SchoolGrade
