Derby is a city of 12,500 in Naugatuck Valley Planning Region, about 8 miles west of downtown New Haven · Updated November 2026
Is Derby, CT safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+, Derby has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 66% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A- against B-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Derby run from A to D+, so check the map below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 729 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
34% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Derby as a whole, and 66% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Derby scores 729.
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 Derby, CT at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Derby, 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 Derby
Car thefts run high for a B-graded city. Derby has 7.4 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a B-graded US city, the figure is 2.9.
Thefts from cars happen at homes far more often than nationally. In Derby, 63% of reported thefts from cars happen at homes, against 34% nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Derby
Most of Derby grades well: 88% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 12% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Derby run from A to D+; 32% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
88%12%
A or B 88%D or F 12%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Derby, the southeast side has the least crime and the west side the most.
Crime rates and types in Derby
CrimeGrade™ estimates Derby has about 51 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 36% more than the US as a whole and 86% more than Connecticut.
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.
The largest share of crime reported in Derby is assault, about 35% of the total. It also makes up 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 Derby
Derby has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Derby, 33% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Stores and businesses (49%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (71%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Theft from cars
Homes (63%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (61%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (50%)
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, car theft, theft from cars, vandalism, aggravated assault.
How Derby compares with nearby cities
Derby has more crime than 8 of its 9 nearest cities. Monroe and Shelton have the least crime nearby.
Two things set Derby apart: it has 3.2% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 6 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby. Places with few empty homes tend to report less burglary, vandalism and arson, yet burglary and vandalism run higher here than that would suggest.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.3.2% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 84% 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 Derby: D+ (18 of 100).6 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 73% 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. 77% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (20 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 61% of US city residents
Show all 6
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.11.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 66% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.24% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 62% 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.92% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 58% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Derby 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 Derby
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Derby about $1,151 a year per household, about the same as 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 $13 million a year, or $1,030 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$330,000
$26
Rape
$110,000
$8
Robbery
$170,000
$14
Assault
$2.3 million
$182
Burglary
$270,000
$22
Theft
$990,000
$79
Vehicle theft
$1.4 million
$114
Arson
$48,000
$4
Vandalism
$610,000
$48
Total
$6.2 million
$498
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 Derby 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 Derby, CT average a SchoolGrade of F: 25% of students test proficient, against 26% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Derby on SchoolGrade
