Downtown Lowell is a neighborhood of 5,580 residents in Lowell, close to downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Downtown Lowell in Lowell safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B, Downtown Lowell has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 73% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent crime grades B and property crime B+. Lowell as a whole grades B. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Downtown Lowell run from B+ to C+, so check the map below.
B
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 658 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
27% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Downtown Lowell as a whole, and 73% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Downtown Lowell scores 658.
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 Downtown Lowell, Lowell, MA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Downtown Lowell in Lowell, 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 Downtown Lowell
Aggravated assaults run high. Downtown Lowell has aggravated assaults at about triple the US rate: 9.1 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
Car thefts happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In Lowell as a whole, 61% of reported car thefts happen on streets and sidewalks, against 27% nationally.
Crime rates and types in Downtown Lowell
CrimeGrade™ estimates Downtown Lowell has about 72 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 94% more than the US as a whole and 90% more than Lowell 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 Downtown Lowell, about 43% 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 Lowell
The Lowell Police Department polices Downtown Lowell; these figures cover Lowell as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Lowell as a whole, 51% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 49% of them, against 18% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (51%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (61%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (49%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Streets and sidewalks (31%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (40%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Other places (32%)
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 Downtown Lowell compares with nearby neighborhoods
Of the 10 neighborhoods closest to Downtown Lowell, 6 have less crime. Frye Circle and Southeast Nashua have the least.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Downtown Lowell. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with neighborhoods of similar size and density, Downtown Lowell is safer than 74% of them.
Nightlife, jobs and walkability in Downtown Lowell
Two things set Downtown Lowell apart: it has 2.7 bars and nightlife spots for every 1,000 residents, against 0.6 nationally, and 154 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report more assault and robbery, and assault runs high here.
Bars and nightlifeBars, lounges, clubs and casinos. Places with more bars tend to report more assault and robbery.2.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 0.6Higher than for 94% of residents of US city neighborhoods
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.154 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 94% 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. 100% of residents here live in walkable areas.A+ (90 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 92% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft and car theft.26.1 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 93% 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 Downtown Lowell
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Downtown Lowell about $1,715 a year per household, 42% 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 $16 million a year, or $2,901 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 Downtown Lowell 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. Downtown Lowell is a good example: many people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks worse 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 Downtown Lowell, Lowell, MA average a SchoolGrade of F: 22% of students test proficient, against 21% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Downtown Lowell on SchoolGrade
