The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Columbus, OH
The Columbus metro area, the 32nd-largest in the US, is home to 2.18 million residents; Columbus itself is the capital and largest city of Ohio · Updated November 2026
Is Columbus, OH safe?
Mostly, yes. Crime in the Columbus area is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A-, but most US neighborhoods are safer still: the Columbus area has more crime than the neighborhoods where 61% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A- here. The city of Columbus itself grades C. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within the Columbus area run from A+ to F, so check the map or the safest and least safe places below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 774 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
39% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than the Columbus area as a whole, and 61% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. The Columbus area scores 774.
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 Columbus, OH at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in the Columbus area, 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 the Columbus area
Robberies run high in Greater Hilltop & Westland. In this part of southwest Columbus, they run at more than double the rate in the rest of Columbus.
Vehicle theft stands out among A-graded metro areas. For the typical resident of an A-graded US metro area, the figure is 1.6 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents; the Columbus area has 2.9.
Thefts from cars happen in parking lots and garages more often than nationally. In the Columbus area, 52% of reported thefts from cars happen in parking lots and garages, against 31% nationally.
The safest and most dangerous places in the Columbus area
In the Columbus area, 77% of residents live in areas graded A or B, 7% in areas graded C and 16% in areas graded D or F. Grades across the Columbus area run from A+ to F; 53% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
77%16%
A or B 77%C 7%D or F 16%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Neighborhoods of Columbus
1Northwest & Clintonville, northwestRobberies run at a small fraction of the rate in the rest of Columbus.A-809
Neighborhood areas of the city of Columbus, ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Cities and towns in the Columbus metro area with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Across the area, the Newark, New Albany, and Johnstown areas have the least crime and the downtown Columbus area the most.
Is crime going up in the Columbus area?
Reported violent crime in the Columbus area peaked in 2021 and has fallen 27% since, back near its 2019 level. Property crime is down 24% from 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 3.1 to 2.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 24 to 18 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 13% and property crime fell 17%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Columbus areaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across the Columbus area. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Columbus area
Violent, US
Property, Columbus area
Property, US
2016
+2%
+4%
+21%
+15%
2017
+0%
+4%
+17%
+12%
2018
+0%
+0%
+8%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+14%
+4%
-6%
-8%
2021
+28%
+6%
-4%
-10%
2022
+7%
+5%
-1%
-6%
2023
+8%
+2%
-8%
-7%
2024
-6%
-4%
-24%
-15%
Crime rates and types in the Columbus area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the Columbus area has about 40 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 8% more than the US as a whole and close to 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 the Columbus area, about 33% of everything reported, but assault costs more, because each one does more harm.
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 the Columbus area
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across the Columbus area, 2022 to 2024.
In the Columbus area, 58% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (58%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (34%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (52%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (32%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (30%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (47%)
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 the Columbus area compares with nearby metro areas
The Columbus area has less crime than 6 of its 10 nearest metro areas.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the Columbus area. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with metro areas of similar size and density, the Columbus area is safer than 57% of them.
Transit, night lighting and density in the Columbus area
The Columbus area looks like a typical metro area on the traits that tend to go with crime.
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for the Columbus area: D- (12 of 100).2 trips an hourUS: noneLower than for 71% of Americans in metro areas
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.85% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 57% of Americans in metro areas
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.19% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 56% of Americans in metro areas
Show all 4
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary.5.8% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 54% of Americans in metro areas
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 the Columbus area
Crime costs the Columbus area about $1,254 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, about the same as the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $1.06 billion a year.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost rises to about $3.46 billion a year, or $1,589 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$249 million
$114
Rape
$92 million
$42
Robbery
$33 million
$15
Assault
$264 million
$121
Burglary
$47 million
$21
Theft
$146 million
$67
Vehicle theft
$98 million
$45
Arson
$2.3 million
$1
Vandalism
$125 million
$57
Total
$1.06 billion
$485
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 the Columbus area 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. These figures cover the whole Columbus metro area. 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 the Columbus area average a SchoolGrade of C+: 58% of students test proficient, against 45% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in the Columbus area on SchoolGrade
