The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Kettering, OH
Kettering is a city of 57,300 in Montgomery County, about 5 miles southeast of downtown Dayton · Updated November 2026
Is Kettering, OH safe?
Yes. Crime is low across most of the US, and lower still in Kettering: an overall CrimeGrade™ of A, safer than the neighborhoods where 65% of Americans live. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A+ against A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Kettering run from A+ to B+, so check the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 895 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
65% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Kettering as a whole, and 35% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Kettering scores 895.
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 Kettering, OH at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Kettering, 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 Kettering
Car thefts and acts of vandalism both run low. In Kettering, each runs at about half the US rate: 1.5 car thefts and 2.8 acts of vandalism a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 and 5.5 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Kettering
Every part of Kettering where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Kettering run from A+ to B+; 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 Kettering, the south side has the least crime and the northwest side the most.
Is crime going up in Kettering?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Kettering is down 59%, while property crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 1.0 to 0.4 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts stayed at about 15 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
KetteringUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Kettering. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Kettering
Violent, US
Property, Kettering
Property, US
2016
+29%
+4%
+26%
+15%
2017
+24%
+4%
+8%
+12%
2018
-4%
+0%
+5%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+7%
+4%
-14%
-8%
2021
-14%
+6%
-14%
-10%
2022
-48%
+5%
-3%
-6%
2023
-43%
+2%
-1%
-7%
2024
-59%
-4%
+3%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Kettering
CrimeGrade™ estimates Kettering has about 24 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 35% less than the US as a whole and 31% less than 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.
The largest share of crime reported in Kettering is theft, about 49% 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 Kettering
Kettering has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Kettering, 68% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 35% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (68%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (49%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (35%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (36%)
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 Kettering compares with nearby cities
Kettering has more crime than 5 of its 9 nearest cities. Trebeins and Bellbrook have the least crime nearby.
Night lighting, shops and walkability in Kettering
Two things set Kettering apart: it has 4.1% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 6% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report less burglary, vandalism and arson, and vandalism runs low here.
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
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.7.9 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 74% 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. 81% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (19 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 56% 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.4.1% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 73% 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 70% 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 Kettering: D+ (22 of 100).4 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 67% 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 Kettering
Crime costs Kettering about $429 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 64% 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 $20 million a year, or $358 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$810,000
$14
Rape
$620,000
$11
Robbery
$210,000
$4
Assault
$2.8 million
$49
Burglary
$790,000
$14
Theft
$3.5 million
$61
Vehicle theft
$1.3 million
$23
Arson
$61,000
$1
Vandalism
$1.1 million
$20
Total
$11 million
$196
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 Kettering 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 Kettering, OH average a SchoolGrade of A: 75% of students test proficient, against 61% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Kettering on SchoolGrade
