The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Medford, MA
Medford is a city of 57,500 in Middlesex County, about 5 miles northwest of downtown Boston · Updated November 2026
Is Medford, MA safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A means crime in Medford is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Medford sits near the middle: 54% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 46% in neighborhoods with less. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A against A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Medford run from A+ to B-, so check the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 856 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
54% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Medford as a whole, and 46% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Medford scores 856.
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 Medford, MA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Medford, 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 Medford
Burglary is a strength. Medford grades A- for property crime, but burglary grades A+, better than in the neighborhoods where 66% of Americans live.
Vehicle theft runs low. Medford has 1.2 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents, less than half the US rate of 2.7.
The safest and least safe parts of Medford
Every part of Medford where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Medford run from A+ to B-; 60% 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 Medford, the northwest side has the least crime and the south side the most.
Is crime going up in Medford?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Medford is down 12% and property crime is up 30%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.1 to 1.8 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 9.2 to 12 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 19%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
MedfordUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Medford. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Medford
Violent, US
Property, Medford
Property, US
2016
-23%
+4%
+26%
+15%
2017
-24%
+4%
+25%
+12%
2018
-37%
+0%
+4%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-39%
+4%
-1%
-8%
2021
-21%
+6%
-4%
-10%
2022
-6%
+5%
+12%
-6%
2023
+8%
+2%
+26%
-7%
2024
-12%
-4%
+30%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Medford
CrimeGrade™ estimates Medford has about 22 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 40% less than the US as a whole and 16% less than Massachusetts.
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.
Theft is the most common crime in Medford, about 48% of everything reported, but assault costs more, because each one does 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 Medford
Medford has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Medford, 60% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 36% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (60%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (28%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Homes (36%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (39%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (64%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Medford compares with nearby cities
Medford has less crime than 6 of its 10 nearest cities.
Two things set Medford apart: it has a Walk Grade of B- (51 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole, and 70% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft and assault, and theft runs high here.
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.B- (51 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 92% 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.70% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 90% 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 Medford: C (33 of 100).17 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 90% 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.0.5 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 90% 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.100% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 80% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.7.4 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 78% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Medford 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 Medford
Crime costs Medford about $505 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 58% 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 $29 million a year, or $509 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$490,000
$8
Rape
$780,000
$14
Robbery
$430,000
$7
Assault
$4.4 million
$76
Burglary
$430,000
$7
Theft
$3.2 million
$55
Vehicle theft
$1.0 million
$18
Arson
$57,000
$1
Vandalism
$1.2 million
$20
Total
$12 million
$207
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 Medford 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. Medford 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
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 Medford, MA average a SchoolGrade of C: 41% of students test proficient, against 49% projected for schools like them. Overall, they underperform expectations. See schools in Medford on SchoolGrade
