The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Fayetteville, AR
Fayetteville is the second-largest city in Arkansas, with 111,200 residents in Washington County · Updated November 2026
Is Fayetteville, AR safe?
Crime in Fayetteville is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 64% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Fayetteville. Violent and property crime both grade B+ here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Fayetteville run from A+ to C-, so check the map below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 750 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
36% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Fayetteville as a whole, and 64% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Fayetteville scores 750.
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 Fayetteville, AR at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Fayetteville, 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 Fayetteville
Robberies are less common than in most B-graded cities. Fayetteville has 0.24 robberies a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a B-graded US city, the figure is 0.63.
Car thefts happen in parking lots and garages far more often than nationally. In Fayetteville, 46% of reported car thefts happen in parking lots and garages, against 23% nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Fayetteville
Low crime is the norm across Fayetteville: 82% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Fayetteville run from A+ to C-; 30% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
82%18%
A or B 82%C 18%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Fayetteville, the northwest side has the least crime and the south side the most.
Is crime going up in Fayetteville?
Reported violent crime in Fayetteville peaked in 2021 and has fallen 27% since, back near its 2019 level. Property crime is down 47% from 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 4.6 to 4.3 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 46 to 24 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 26%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
FayettevilleUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Fayetteville. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Fayetteville
Violent, US
Property, Fayetteville
Property, US
2016
+20%
+4%
-2%
+15%
2017
+32%
+4%
+5%
+12%
2018
+26%
+0%
-4%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+20%
+4%
+8%
-8%
2021
+28%
+6%
+0%
-10%
2022
+8%
+5%
-14%
-6%
2023
-7%
+2%
-29%
-7%
2024
-7%
-4%
-47%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Fayetteville
CrimeGrade™ estimates Fayetteville has about 45 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 21% more than the US as a whole and close to Arkansas.
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 Fayetteville, about 41% 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 Fayetteville
Fayetteville has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Fayetteville, 78% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 52% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (78%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (46%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (52%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (39%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (40%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (51%)
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 Fayetteville compares with nearby cities
Fayetteville has more crime than 6 of its 7 nearest cities. Goshen and Tontitown have the least crime nearby.
Transit, empty homes and walkability in Fayetteville
One thing sets Fayetteville apart: it has 7 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby. It also combines many jobs with busy transit: places with both tend to report more theft and robbery than places with only one of them, and theft runs high here.
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 Fayetteville: F (0 of 100).7 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 76% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.8.5% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 75% 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. 79% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (17 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 52% of US city residents
Show all 6
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.58 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 74% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.12.3 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 72% 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.86% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 66% 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 Fayetteville
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Fayetteville about $1,334 a year per household, 11% more than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $58 million 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 $198 million a year, or $1,779 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$12 million
$110
Rape
$3.6 million
$32
Robbery
$850,000
$8
Assault
$19 million
$169
Burglary
$2.4 million
$21
Theft
$11 million
$95
Vehicle theft
$3.3 million
$30
Arson
$72,000
$1
Vandalism
$6.2 million
$56
Total
$58 million
$522
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 Fayetteville 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 Fayetteville, AR average a SchoolGrade of B+: 42% of students test proficient, against 41% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Fayetteville on SchoolGrade
