The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Gainesville, GA
Gainesville is a city of 137,400 in Hall County and the main city of the Gainesville metro area, home to 212,700 · Updated November 2026
Is Gainesville, GA safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A- means crime in Gainesville is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Gainesville sits near the middle: 46% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 54% in neighborhoods with less. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, A against A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Gainesville run from A+ to C-, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 816 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
46% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Gainesville as a whole, and 54% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Gainesville scores 816.
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 Gainesville, GA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Gainesville, 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 Gainesville
Robberies run high for an A-graded city. Gainesville has 0.38 robberies a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 0.13.
Car thefts are uncommon. Gainesville has car thefts at less than half the US rate: 1.1 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 nationally.
Thefts from cars happen in parking lots and garages far more often than nationally. In Gainesville, 57% of reported thefts from cars happen in parking lots and garages, against 31% nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Gainesville
Low crime is the norm across Gainesville: 93% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Gainesville run from A+ to C-; 58% 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 Gainesville, the northwest side has the least crime and the center the most.
Crime rates and types in Gainesville
CrimeGrade™ estimates Gainesville has about 32 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 15% less than the US as a whole and close to Georgia.
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.
The largest share of crime reported in Gainesville is assault, about 40% of the total. It also makes up 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 Gainesville
Gainesville has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Gainesville, 50% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (50%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (41%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (57%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (39%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (27%)
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 Gainesville compares with nearby cities
Gainesville has the most crime of its 9 nearest cities.
Night lighting, transit and walkability in Gainesville
Two things set Gainesville apart: it has 54% of the land where people live lit at night, against 78% nationally, and a Walk Grade of D- (8 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report less theft and vandalism, yet vandalism runs higher here than that would suggest.
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.54% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 85% 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 Gainesville: 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. 92% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D- (8 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 84% 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.5% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 73% 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.7.4% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 66% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.51 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 65% 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 Gainesville
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Gainesville about $1,166 a year per household, about the same as the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $52 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 $180 million a year, or $1,308 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$11 million
$84
Rape
$3.9 million
$28
Robbery
$1.6 million
$12
Assault
$19 million
$139
Burglary
$1.4 million
$10
Theft
$7.6 million
$55
Vehicle theft
$2.2 million
$16
Arson
$240,000
$2
Vandalism
$4.7 million
$34
Total
$52 million
$380
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 Gainesville 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 Gainesville, GA average a SchoolGrade of D+: 32% of students test proficient, against 39% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Gainesville on SchoolGrade
