The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Meriden, CT
Meriden is the tenth-largest city in Connecticut, with 60,000 residents in South Central Connecticut Planning Region, about 17 miles northeast of downtown New Haven · Updated November 2026
Is Meriden, CT safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A- means crime in Meriden is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Meriden sits near the middle: 46% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 54% in neighborhoods with less. Violent and property crime both grade A- here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Meriden run from A+ to C, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 816 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
46% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Meriden as a whole, and 54% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Meriden scores 816.
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 Meriden, CT at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Meriden, 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 Meriden
Robberies run high for an A-graded city. Meriden has 0.51 robberies a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 0.13.
Burglary runs low. Meriden has 0.90 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents, less than half the US rate of 2.4.
The safest and least safe parts of Meriden
Low crime is the norm across Meriden: 96% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Meriden run from A+ to C; 53% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
96%
A or B 96%C 4%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Meriden, the southeast side has the least crime and the center the most.
Crime rates and types in Meriden
CrimeGrade™ estimates Meriden has about 33 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 12% less than the US as a whole and 20% more than Connecticut.
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.
Assault is the most common crime in Meriden, about 43% of everything reported, and it also accounts for 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.
The Meriden Police Department's 2024 report of burglary had a month far out of line with the rest, a sign of a data-entry error or a catch-up month, so CrimeGrade™ set it aside and used the other months. The department's 2024 count of aggravated assault fell far below its usual level, a sign of a reporting break, so CrimeGrade™ used the department's earlier years instead. The department counts vandalism differently from the national definition, so CrimeGrade™ makes its own vandalism estimate.
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 Meriden
Meriden has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Meriden, 59% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 42% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (59%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Homes (38%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Homes (42%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (43%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (52%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (51%)
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 Meriden compares with nearby cities
Meriden has more crime than 8 of its 9 nearest cities. Middlefield and Wallingford have the least crime nearby.
Meriden looks like a typical city on the traits that tend to go with crime.
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. 69% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (24 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 72% 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 Meriden: D+ (19 of 100).4 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 65% 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.26% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 64% 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.1.4 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 63% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.9.0 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 63% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.7.0% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 62% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Meriden 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 Meriden
Crime costs Meriden about $774 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 36% 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 $45 million a year, or $743 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$2.1 million
$35
Rape
$700,000
$12
Robbery
$950,000
$16
Assault
$7.6 million
$127
Burglary
$480,000
$8
Theft
$3.6 million
$61
Vehicle theft
$1.5 million
$26
Arson
$88,000
$1
Vandalism
$1.5 million
$25
Total
$19 million
$309
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 Meriden 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 Meriden, CT average a SchoolGrade of C: 44% of students test proficient, against 39% projected for schools like them. Overall, they greatly exceed expectations. See schools in Meriden on SchoolGrade
