The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in East Falmouth, MA
East Falmouth is a town of 20,600 in Barnstable County, about 16 miles southwest of Barnstable · Updated November 2026
Is East Falmouth, MA safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A means crime in East Falmouth is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so East Falmouth sits near the middle: 58% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 42% in neighborhoods with less. Violent and property crime both grade A here. Its neighborhoods are much alike, from A+ to A-; see the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 873 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
58% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than East Falmouth as a whole, and 42% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. East Falmouth scores 873.
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 East Falmouth, MA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in East Falmouth, 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 East Falmouth
One weak spot: reported rape. It grades C+ in East Falmouth, worse than in the neighborhoods where 87% of Americans live, against A for violent crime as a whole.
Thefts are uncommon. East Falmouth has thefts at less than half the US rate: 4.4 a year per 1,000 residents, against 13.1 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of East Falmouth
Every part of East Falmouth where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across East Falmouth run from A+ to A-; every part of East Falmouth has less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within East Falmouth, the northwest side has the least crime and the southwest side the most.
Is crime going up in East Falmouth?
Reported crime in East Falmouth has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 18% and property crime down 26%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 3.5 to 2.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 12 to 8.6 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
East FalmouthUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves East Falmouth. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, East Falmouth
Violent, US
Property, East Falmouth
Property, US
2016
+9%
+4%
+74%
+15%
2017
+12%
+4%
+31%
+12%
2018
+1%
+0%
-8%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-21%
+4%
-9%
-8%
2021
-11%
+6%
-20%
-10%
2022
-30%
+5%
-28%
-6%
2023
-11%
+2%
-30%
-7%
2024
-18%
-4%
-26%
-15%
Crime rates and types in East Falmouth
CrimeGrade™ estimates East Falmouth has about 20 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 47% less than the US as a whole and 27% less 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 East Falmouth, about 47% 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 East Falmouth
The Falmouth Police Department polices East Falmouth; these figures cover Falmouth as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Falmouth as a whole, 63% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (63%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Homes (49%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Aggravated assault
Homes (53%)
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 East Falmouth compares with nearby cities
East Falmouth has more crime than 7 of its 8 nearest cities. Cotuit and Forestdale have the least crime nearby.
Night lighting, jobs and walkability in East Falmouth
Two things set East Falmouth apart: it has 15% of the land where people live lit at night, against 78% nationally, and 12 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report less theft and vandalism, and they run low here.
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.15% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 97% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.12 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower 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. 98% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.F (4 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 93% of US city residents
Show all 6
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.under 1% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 94% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.5.3 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 90% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.2.6 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 76% 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 East Falmouth
Crime costs East Falmouth about $538 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 55% 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 $14 million a year, or $685 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$220,000
$11
Rape
$690,000
$34
Robbery
$29,000
$1
Assault
$2.2 million
$107
Burglary
$310,000
$15
Theft
$470,000
$23
Vehicle theft
$110,000
$6
Arson
$16,000
$1
Vandalism
$470,000
$23
Total
$4.5 million
$219
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 East Falmouth 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. East Falmouth 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 East Falmouth, MA average a SchoolGrade of B-: 45% of students test proficient, against 47% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in East Falmouth on SchoolGrade
