The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Indianapolis, IN
The Indianapolis metro area, the 34th-largest in the US, is home to 2.13 million residents; Indianapolis itself is the capital and largest city of Indiana · Updated November 2026
Is Indianapolis, IN safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+, the Indianapolis area has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 66% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, A- against B+. The city of Indianapolis itself grades C-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within the Indianapolis area run from A+ to F, so check the map or the safest and least safe places below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 737 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
34% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than the Indianapolis area as a whole, and 66% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. The Indianapolis area scores 737.
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 Indianapolis, IN at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in the Indianapolis area, 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 the Indianapolis area
One part of Indianapolis stands out for robbery. Robberies in Irvington, Little Flower & Otterbein, in east Indianapolis, run at about double the rate in the rest of the city.
Car thefts happen at homes more often than nationally. In the Indianapolis area, 51% of reported car thefts happen at homes, against 33% nationally.
The safest and most dangerous places in the Indianapolis area
Safety changes a lot from one part of the Indianapolis area to the next: 74% of residents live in areas graded A or B, while 20% live in areas graded D or F. Grades across the Indianapolis area run from A+ to F; 57% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
74%20%
A or B 74%C 6%D or F 20%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Neighborhoods of Indianapolis
1New Bethel, Raymond Park & Glenroy Village, southeastBurglaries run at about half the rate in the rest of Indianapolis.B+710
2Mars Hill, Sunshine Gardens & Avon Creek Estates, southwestCar thefts run about 40% lower here than in the rest of Indianapolis.B-544
3Meridian-Kessler, Nora & Broad Ripple, northBurglaries run about 40% lower here than in the rest of Indianapolis.C+466
4Aspen Ridge, Bayswater & North Willow Farms, northwestBurglaries run at about half the rate in the rest of Indianapolis.C456
5University Heights and Rosedale Hills, Carson Heights & West Edgewood, southBurglaries run about 60% higher here than in the rest of Indianapolis.C395
6Devington, Geist & Hearth Stone, northeastBurglaries run about 20% lower here than in the rest of Indianapolis.C-365
7Downtown Indianapolis, St. Joseph Historic Neighborhood & Martindale-Brightwood, centralCar thefts run about 90% higher here than in the rest of Indianapolis.D-149
8Chapel Hill Village, Eagledale & Riverside, westRobberies run about 90% higher here than in the rest of Indianapolis.F27
9Irvington, Little Flower & Otterbein, eastBurglaries run about 80% higher here than in the rest of Indianapolis.F0
Neighborhood areas of the city of Indianapolis, ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Cities and towns in the Indianapolis metro area with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Across the area, the Zionsville, Lebanon, and Whitestown areas have the least crime and the downtown Indianapolis area the most.
Is crime going up in the Indianapolis area?
Reported crime in the Indianapolis area has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 23% and property crime down 22%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 6.1 to 4.7 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 25 to 19 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 16%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Indianapolis areaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across the Indianapolis area. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Indianapolis area
Violent, US
Property, Indianapolis area
Property, US
2016
+26%
+4%
+31%
+15%
2017
+24%
+4%
+20%
+12%
2018
+15%
+0%
+11%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-4%
+4%
-11%
-8%
2021
-8%
+6%
-15%
-10%
2022
-10%
+5%
-15%
-6%
2023
-8%
+2%
-14%
-7%
2024
-23%
-4%
-22%
-15%
Crime rates and types in the Indianapolis area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the Indianapolis area has about 39 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about the same as the US as a whole and 23% more than Indiana.
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 the Indianapolis area, about 36% of everything reported, but murder costs more, because each one does far 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 the Indianapolis area
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across the Indianapolis area, 2022 to 2024.
In the Indianapolis area, 64% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 38% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (64%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (51%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Homes (38%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (40%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (31%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (56%)
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 the Indianapolis area compares with nearby metro areas
The Indianapolis area has more crime than 6 of its 10 nearest metro areas. The Grand Rapids area and the Cincinnati area have the least crime nearby.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the Indianapolis area. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with metro areas of similar size and density, the Indianapolis area has more crime than 64% of them.
Empty homes, density and transit in the Indianapolis area
The Indianapolis area looks like a typical metro area on the traits that tend to go with crime.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary.7.0% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 71% of Americans in metro areas
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.12% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 70% of Americans in metro areas
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for the Indianapolis area: D- (8 of 100).3 trips an hourUS: noneLower than for 69% of Americans in metro areas
Show all 4
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.89% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 55% of Americans in metro areas
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 the Indianapolis area
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs the Indianapolis area about $1,490 a year per household, 24% more than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $1.22 billion 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 $4.67 billion a year, or $2,193 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$372 million
$175
Rape
$49 million
$23
Robbery
$46 million
$21
Assault
$368 million
$173
Burglary
$49 million
$23
Theft
$140 million
$66
Vehicle theft
$126 million
$59
Arson
$5.7 million
$3
Vandalism
$66 million
$31
Total
$1.22 billion
$573
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 the Indianapolis area 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. These figures cover the whole Indianapolis metro area. 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 the Indianapolis area average a SchoolGrade of C+: 41% of students test proficient, against 37% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in the Indianapolis area on SchoolGrade
