The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Marion, OH
Marion is a city of 49,400 in Marion County, about 45 miles north of downtown Columbus · Updated November 2026
Is Marion, OH safe?
Yes, crime in Marion is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A-. Because most US neighborhoods are safe as well, Marion sits near the middle: safer than the neighborhoods where 50% of Americans live. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, A against A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Marion run from A+ to C+, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 836 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
50% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Marion as a whole, and 50% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Marion scores 836.
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 Marion, OH at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Marion, 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 Marion
Reported rape stands out among A-graded cities. For the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 0.25 reported rapes a year per 1,000 residents; Marion has 0.80.
Vehicle theft runs low. Marion has 0.79 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents, a small fraction of the US rate of 2.7.
The safest and least safe parts of Marion
Low crime is the norm across Marion: 98% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Marion run from A+ to C+; 46% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
98%
A or B 98%C 2%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Marion, the northeast side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Marion?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Marion is up 85% and property crime is down 49%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.1 to 3.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 19 to 9.5 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime rose 19% and property crime fell 13%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
MarionUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police agencies that serve Marion. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Marion
Violent, US
Property, Marion
Property, US
2016
+21%
+4%
+48%
+15%
2017
+16%
+4%
+12%
+12%
2018
+14%
+0%
+4%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-10%
+4%
-25%
-8%
2021
-12%
+6%
-29%
-10%
2022
-5%
+5%
-27%
-6%
2023
+55%
+2%
-42%
-7%
2024
+85%
-4%
-49%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Marion
CrimeGrade™ estimates Marion has about 33 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 12% less than the US as a whole and close to 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 Marion 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 Marion
Marion has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Marion, 72% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 35% of them, against 18% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (72%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (33%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (35%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (46%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (58%)
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 Marion compares with nearby cities
Marion has the most crime of its 5 nearest cities.
Two things set Marion apart: it has 10.8% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 2.9 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places like that tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson, and burglary and vandalism run high here.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.10.8% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 88% 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 Marion: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% 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. 87% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (14 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 61% 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.2.9 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 84% of US city residents
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.84% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 68% 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.10% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 61% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Marion on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
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 Marion
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Marion about $928 a year per household, 23% 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 $52 million a year, or $1,046 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.1 million
$22
Rape
$2.4 million
$48
Robbery
$290,000
$6
Assault
$8.0 million
$163
Burglary
$910,000
$18
Theft
$2.3 million
$46
Vehicle theft
$600,000
$12
Arson
$120,000
$2
Vandalism
$1.7 million
$35
Total
$17 million
$353
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 Marion 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 Marion, OH average a SchoolGrade of D+: 53% of students test proficient, against 49% projected for schools like them. Overall, they underperform expectations. See schools in Marion on SchoolGrade
