Mercury Central is a neighborhood of 15,000 residents in Hampton, about 3 miles northwest of downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Mercury Central in Hampton safe?
Crime in Mercury Central is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B-. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 80% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Mercury Central. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, B against C+. Hampton as a whole grades B-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Mercury Central run from A- to D-, so check the map below.
B-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 548 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
20% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Mercury Central as a whole, and 80% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Mercury Central scores 548.
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 Mercury Central, Hampton, VA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Mercury Central in Hampton, 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 Mercury Central
Aggravated assault is a strength. Mercury Central grades C+ for violent crime, but aggravated assault grades A-.
Thefts run high. Mercury Central has thefts at about triple the US rate: 39.9 a year per 1,000 residents, against 13.1 nationally.
How Mercury Central compares within Hampton
Areas graded C are home to 54% of residents in Mercury Central; 34% live in areas graded A or B and 12% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Mercury Central run from A- to D-; every part of Mercury Central has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
34%54%12%
A or B 34%C 54%D or F 12%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Mercury Central has less crime than 3 of the 10 neighborhoods in Hampton.
Is crime going up in Hampton?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Hampton as a whole is down 13%, while property crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.9 to 2.5 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts stayed at about 29 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 14%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
HamptonUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Hampton. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Hampton
Violent, US
Property, Hampton
Property, US
2016
+13%
+4%
+18%
+15%
2017
+6%
+4%
+11%
+12%
2018
-16%
+0%
+1%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-9%
+4%
-17%
-8%
2021
-0%
+6%
-15%
-10%
2022
-4%
+5%
+0%
-6%
2023
+0%
+2%
+4%
-7%
2024
-13%
-4%
-1%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Mercury Central
CrimeGrade™ estimates Mercury Central has about 79 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about double the rate for the US as a whole and 45% more than Hampton 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.
Theft is the most common crime in Mercury Central, about 50% 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 Hampton
The Hampton Police Department polices Mercury Central; these figures cover Hampton as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Hampton as a whole, 66% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 51% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (66%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (38%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (51%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (45%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (42%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (45%)
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 Mercury Central compares with nearby neighborhoods
Mercury Central has less crime than 5 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Mercury Central. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with neighborhoods of similar size and density, Mercury Central has more crime than 61% of them.
Parking lots, shops and walkability in Mercury Central
Two things set Mercury Central apart: it has 2.8 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 22.1 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally. Places with both tend to report more theft and car theft than places with only one of them, and they run high here.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.2.8 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 93% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft and car theft.22.1 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 90% 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. 72% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (22 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 69% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.10.9% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 83% 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 Mercury Central
Crime costs Mercury Central about $1,849 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 53% 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 $45 million a year, or $3,022 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 Mercury Central 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. Mercury Central is a good example: many people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks worse 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 Mercury Central, Hampton, VA average a SchoolGrade of C+: 73% of students test proficient, against 39% projected for schools like them. Overall, they greatly exceed expectations. See schools in Mercury Central on SchoolGrade
