The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Elyria, OH
Elyria is a city of 59,400 in Lorain County, about 25 miles southwest of downtown Cleveland · Updated November 2026
Is Elyria, OH safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A- means crime in Elyria is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Elyria sits near the middle: 45% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 55% in neighborhoods with less. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, A against A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Elyria run from A+ to C, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 814 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
45% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Elyria as a whole, and 55% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Elyria scores 814.
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 Elyria, OH at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Elyria, 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 Elyria
Vehicle theft runs low. Elyria has 0.76 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents, a small fraction of the US rate of 2.7.
The safest and least safe parts of Elyria
Most of Elyria grades well: 93% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Elyria run from A+ to C; 52% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
93%
A or B 93%C 7%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Elyria, the northeast side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Elyria?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Elyria is up 13% and property crime is down 14%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.6 to 2.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 17 to 15 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime rose 42%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
ElyriaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Elyria. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Elyria
Violent, US
Property, Elyria
Property, US
2016
+17%
+4%
+61%
+15%
2017
+28%
+4%
+25%
+12%
2018
-30%
+0%
+7%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+3%
+4%
-12%
-8%
2021
+2%
+6%
-18%
-10%
2022
-21%
+5%
+11%
-6%
2023
-20%
+2%
-15%
-7%
2024
+13%
-4%
-14%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Elyria
CrimeGrade™ estimates Elyria has about 31 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 18% less 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.
Assault is the most common crime in Elyria, about 41% 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 Elyria
Elyria has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Elyria, 68% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 34% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (68%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (32%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (34%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Homes (41%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Robbery
Other places (29%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (49%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Elyria compares with nearby cities
Elyria has more crime than 6 of its 8 nearest cities. North Ridgeville and Sheffield have the least crime nearby.
One thing sets Elyria apart: it has 3.3 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft; here theft sits near the national middle.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.3.3 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 89% 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 Elyria: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% 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+ (19 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 58% of US city residents
Show all 6
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.8.3% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 73% 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.8% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 65% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.9.2 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 61% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Elyria 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 Elyria
Crime costs Elyria about $782 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 35% 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 $64 million a year, or $1,072 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$3.5 million
$58
Rape
$1.5 million
$26
Robbery
$480,000
$8
Assault
$7.9 million
$133
Burglary
$1.1 million
$18
Theft
$3.3 million
$56
Vehicle theft
$690,000
$12
Arson
$160,000
$3
Vandalism
$1.4 million
$24
Total
$20 million
$338
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 Elyria 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 Elyria, OH average a SchoolGrade of C-: 55% of students test proficient, against 47% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Elyria on SchoolGrade
