The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Cleveland Heights, OH
Cleveland Heights is a city of 44,200 in Cuyahoga County, about 7 miles east of downtown Cleveland · Updated November 2026
Is Cleveland Heights, OH safe?
Crime in Cleveland Heights is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 72% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Cleveland Heights. Violent and property crime both grade B here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Cleveland Heights run from A+ to D-, so check the map below.
B
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 675 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
28% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Cleveland Heights as a whole, and 72% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Cleveland Heights scores 675.
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 Cleveland Heights, OH at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Cleveland Heights, 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 Cleveland Heights
Simple assaults are uncommon. Cleveland Heights has simple assaults at less than half the US rate: 3.9 a year per 1,000 residents, against 9.7 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Cleveland Heights
Most of Cleveland Heights grades well: 75% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 9% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Cleveland Heights run from A+ to D-; 15% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
75%16%
A or B 75%C 16%D or F 9%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Cleveland Heights, the south side has the least crime and the north side the most.
Is crime going up in Cleveland Heights?
Since 2019, reported property crime in Cleveland Heights is down 21%, while violent crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.7 to 2.5 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 16 to 13 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime rose 30% and property crime rose 12%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Cleveland HeightsUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Cleveland Heights. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Cleveland Heights
Violent, US
Property, Cleveland Heights
Property, US
2016
+20%
+4%
+36%
+15%
2017
+9%
+4%
+21%
+12%
2018
-22%
+0%
-2%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-6%
+4%
-29%
-8%
2021
+1%
+6%
-28%
-10%
2022
-18%
+5%
-31%
-6%
2023
-29%
+2%
-30%
-7%
2024
-8%
-4%
-21%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Cleveland Heights
CrimeGrade™ estimates Cleveland Heights has about 22 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 41% less than the US as a whole and 37% less than Ohio.
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 Cleveland Heights, about 34% 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 Heights
Cleveland Heights has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Cleveland Heights, 73% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 49% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (73%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (40%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Homes (49%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (46%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Robbery
Homes (33%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (67%)
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 Cleveland Heights compares with nearby cities
Cleveland Heights has more crime than 6 of its 9 nearest cities. Lyndhurst and University Heights have the least crime nearby.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Cleveland Heights. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with cities of similar size and density, Cleveland Heights has more crime than 86% of them.
Night lighting, parking lots and walkability in Cleveland Heights
Two things set Cleveland Heights apart: it has 0.6 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 19 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.
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
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 89% 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. 58% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.C (32 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 83% of US city residents
Show all 6
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.19 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 88% 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.9.4% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 83% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.7.4 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 78% 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 Cleveland Heights
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Cleveland Heights about $771 a year per household, 36% 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 $59 million a year, or $1,324 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$4.8 million
$108
Rape
$1.0 million
$23
Robbery
$650,000
$15
Assault
$3.2 million
$72
Burglary
$650,000
$15
Theft
$1.7 million
$39
Vehicle theft
$2.5 million
$57
Arson
$42,000
$1
Vandalism
$880,000
$20
Total
$15 million
$349
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 Cleveland Heights 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. Cleveland Heights 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 Cleveland Heights, OH average a SchoolGrade of D-: 45% of students test proficient, against 30% projected for schools like them. Overall, they greatly exceed expectations. See schools in Cleveland Heights on SchoolGrade
