The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Gahanna, OH
Gahanna is a city of 37,100 in Franklin County, about 9 miles northeast of downtown Columbus · Updated November 2026
Is Gahanna, OH safe?
Yes, crime in Gahanna is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A-. Because most US neighborhoods are safe as well, Gahanna sits near the middle: safer than the neighborhoods where 51% of Americans live. Violent crime grades A and property crime A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Gahanna run from A+ to B, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 840 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
51% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Gahanna as a whole, and 49% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Gahanna scores 840.
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 Gahanna, OH at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Gahanna, 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 Gahanna
Vehicle theft stands out among A-graded cities. For the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 0.93 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents; Gahanna has 3.0.
Thefts from cars happen in the morning far more often than nationally. In Gahanna, 44% of reported thefts from cars happen in the morning (6 am to noon), against 23% nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Gahanna
Every part of Gahanna where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Gahanna run from A+ to B; 62% of residents live in areas with 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 Gahanna, the northwest side has the least crime and the southwest side the most.
Is crime going up in Gahanna?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Gahanna is up 84% and property crime is down 10%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 1.2 to 2.3 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 20 to 18 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime rose 24%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
GahannaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Gahanna. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Gahanna
Violent, US
Property, Gahanna
Property, US
2016
-54%
+4%
+11%
+15%
2017
-43%
+4%
+10%
+12%
2018
-29%
+0%
-5%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+36%
+4%
-15%
-8%
2021
+91%
+6%
-6%
-10%
2022
+92%
+5%
+18%
-6%
2023
+48%
+2%
-12%
-7%
2024
+84%
-4%
-10%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Gahanna
CrimeGrade™ estimates Gahanna has about 32 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 14% 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.
Theft is the most common crime in Gahanna, about 45% 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 Gahanna
Gahanna has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Gahanna, 56% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (56%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Homes (35%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (34%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (29%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (40%)
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 Gahanna compares with nearby cities
Gahanna has less crime than 5 of its 8 nearest cities.
Two things set Gahanna apart: it has 83 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 2.8% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery; here theft sits near the national middle.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.83 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 93% 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.100% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 92% 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. 88% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (13 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 67% 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.2.8% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 89% 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.6% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 72% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.12.1 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 71% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Gahanna 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 Gahanna
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Gahanna about $787 a year per household, 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 $33 million a year, or $888 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.4 million
$39
Rape
$690,000
$18
Robbery
$310,000
$8
Assault
$3.5 million
$94
Burglary
$460,000
$12
Theft
$2.7 million
$73
Vehicle theft
$1.7 million
$47
Arson
$72,000
$2
Vandalism
$1.3 million
$35
Total
$12 million
$328
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 Gahanna 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 Gahanna, OH average a SchoolGrade of D+: 51% of students test proficient, against 35% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Gahanna on SchoolGrade
