Lower Highlands is a neighborhood of 9,970 residents in Fall River, close to downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Lower Highlands in Fall River safe?
Lower Highlands has more crime than most of the country: an overall CrimeGrade™ of C+, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 81% of Americans live. Violent crime grades C+ and property crime B-. Fall River as a whole grades B. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Lower Highlands run from B+ to D+, so check the map below.
C+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 523 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
19% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Lower Highlands as a whole, and 81% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Lower Highlands scores 523.
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 Lower Highlands, Fall River, MA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Lower Highlands in Fall River, 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 Lower Highlands
Reported rape stands out among C-graded neighborhoods. For the typical resident of a C-graded US neighborhood, the figure is 0.39 reported rapes a year per 1,000 residents; Lower Highlands has 1.1.
Aggravated assaults run high. Lower Highlands has aggravated assaults at about triple the US rate: 9.0 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
Crime rates and types in Lower Highlands
CrimeGrade™ estimates Lower Highlands has about 68 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 82% more than the US as a whole and 49% more than Fall River 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.
The largest share of crime reported in Lower Highlands is assault, about 53% 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 Fall River
The Fall River Police Department polices Lower Highlands; these figures cover Fall River as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Fall River as a whole, 61% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 42% of them, against 18% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (61%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (37%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (42%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (43%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (31%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (59%)
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 Lower Highlands compares with nearby neighborhoods
Lower Highlands has more crime than 9 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods. Kent Corner and Steep Brook have the least crime nearby.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Lower Highlands. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with neighborhoods of similar size and density, Lower Highlands is safer than 57% of them.
Nightlife, jobs and walkability in Lower Highlands
Two things set Lower Highlands apart: it has 1.5 bars and nightlife spots for every 1,000 residents, against 0.6 nationally, and 95 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report more assault and robbery, and they run high here.
Bars and nightlifeBars, lounges, clubs and casinos. Places with more bars tend to report more assault and robbery.1.5 per 1,000 residentsUS: 0.6Higher than for 88% of residents of US city neighborhoods
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.95 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 87% 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. 54% of residents here live in walkable areas.B+ (67 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 75% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.3 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 74% 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 Lower Highlands
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Lower Highlands about $1,900 a year per household, 58% more 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 $29 million a year, or $2,941 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 Lower Highlands 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 Lower Highlands, Fall River, MA average a SchoolGrade of F: 17% of students test proficient, against 26% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Lower Highlands on SchoolGrade
