The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Gulf Shores, AL
Gulf Shores is a city of 15,600 in Baldwin County, about 25 miles southeast of downtown Daphne · Updated November 2026
Is Gulf Shores, AL safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A means crime in Gulf Shores is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Gulf Shores sits near the middle: 57% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 43% 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 869 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
57% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Gulf Shores as a whole, and 43% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Gulf Shores scores 869.
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 Gulf Shores, AL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Gulf Shores, 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 Gulf Shores
Burglaries are less common than the crime level suggests. Crime overall in Gulf Shores runs 27% above the US rate, but burglaries run at about half that rate: 1.1 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.4 nationally.
Simple assaults run high for an A-graded city. Gulf Shores has 19.1 simple assaults a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 6.0.
The safest and least safe parts of Gulf Shores
Every part of Gulf Shores where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Gulf Shores run from A+ to A-; 93% 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 Gulf Shores, the southwest side has the least crime and the south side the most.
Crime rates and types in Gulf Shores
CrimeGrade™ estimates Gulf Shores has about 47 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 27% more than the US as a whole and 18% more than Alabama.
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 Gulf Shores is assault, about 46% 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 Gulf Shores
Gulf Shores has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Gulf Shores, 82% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 48% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (82%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (48%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (49%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (57%)
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 Gulf Shores compares with nearby cities
Gulf Shores has the most crime of its 7 nearest cities.
Two things set Gulf Shores apart: it has 32.8% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 25.0 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally. Places like that tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson, yet burglary and vandalism run lower here than that would suggest.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.32.8% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 99% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.25.0 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 98% 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. 94% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D- (7 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 85% of US city residents
Show all 6
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.4.7 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 97% 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.2% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 87% 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 Gulf Shores: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% 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 Gulf Shores
Crime costs Gulf Shores about $968 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 20% 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 $16 million a year, or $1,042 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$500,000
$32
Rape
$270,000
$18
Robbery
$47,000
$3
Assault
$3.4 million
$215
Burglary
$150,000
$10
Theft
$1.4 million
$92
Vehicle theft
$130,000
$8
Arson
$16,000
$1
Vandalism
$630,000
$40
Total
$6.5 million
$419
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 Gulf Shores 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 Gulf Shores, AL average a SchoolGrade of B+: 46% of students test proficient, against 42% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Gulf Shores on SchoolGrade
