Kensington is a neighborhood of 11,700 residents in Buffalo, about 5 miles northeast of downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Kensington in Buffalo safe?
Kensington is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of F, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 96% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade F here. Buffalo as a whole grades C. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Kensington run from C+ to F, so check the map below.
F
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 0 of 1,000Less safe than nearly all US neighborhoodsi What this means
4% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Kensington as a whole, and 96% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Kensington scores 0.
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 Kensington, Buffalo, NY at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Kensington in Buffalo, 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 Kensington
Thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In Buffalo as a whole, 64% of reported thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks, against 18% nationally.
Vehicle theft at more than double the US rate. Kensington has 6.7 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 nationally.
How Kensington compares within Buffalo
High crime is widespread across Kensington: 96% of residents live in areas graded D or F, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Kensington run from C+ to F; every part of Kensington has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
96%
C 4%D or F 96%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Kensington has less crime than 6 of the 38 neighborhoods in Buffalo. It covers much of the Kensington area and the Schiller Park and Kenfield areas.
Is crime going up in Buffalo?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Buffalo as a whole is down 30% and property crime is up 16%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 9.9 to 7.0 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 33 to 38 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 11%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
BuffaloUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Buffalo. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Buffalo
Violent, US
Property, Buffalo
Property, US
2016
+12%
+4%
+27%
+15%
2017
+3%
+4%
+18%
+12%
2018
+6%
+0%
+18%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-2%
+4%
-7%
-8%
2021
-12%
+6%
-13%
-10%
2022
-22%
+5%
+1%
-6%
2023
-24%
+2%
+30%
-7%
2024
-30%
-4%
+16%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Kensington
CrimeGrade™ estimates Kensington has about 69 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 86% more than the US as a whole and close to Buffalo as a whole.
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 Kensington, about 36% of everything reported.
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 Buffalo
The Buffalo Police Department polices Kensington; these figures cover Buffalo as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Buffalo as a whole, 69% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (69%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (65%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (64%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Streets and sidewalks (37%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (53%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (50%)
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 Kensington compares with nearby neighborhoods
Kensington has less crime than 5 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods.
Two things set Kensington apart: it has 6 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 0.1 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places like that tend to report less theft and robbery, yet theft and robbery run higher here than that would suggest.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.6 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 96% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.1 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 89% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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.C+ (42 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 58% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft and car theft.5.9 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 71% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 Kensington
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Kensington about $2,468 a year per household, about double 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 $40 million a year, or $3,383 per resident.
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 Kensington 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. Kensington is the other kind of example: few people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks lower than its CrimeGrade™ suggests.
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
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 Kensington, Buffalo, NY average a SchoolGrade of F: 33% of students test proficient, against 35% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Kensington on SchoolGrade
