The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Niagara Falls, NY
Niagara Falls is a city of 63,300 in Niagara County, about 16 miles northwest of downtown Buffalo · Updated November 2026
Is Niagara Falls, NY safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B, Niagara Falls has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 71% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent and property crime both grade B here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Niagara Falls run from A+ to F, so check the map below.
B
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 682 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
29% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Niagara Falls as a whole, and 71% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Niagara Falls scores 682.
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 Niagara Falls, NY at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Niagara Falls, 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 Niagara Falls
Vandalism at more than double the US rate. Niagara Falls has 14.4 acts of vandalism a year per 1,000 residents, against 5.5 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Niagara Falls
Safety changes a lot from one part of Niagara Falls to the next: 63% of residents live in areas graded A or B, while 22% live in areas graded D or F. Grades across Niagara Falls run from A+ to F; 29% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
63%15%22%
A or B 63%C 15%D or F 22%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Niagara Falls, the northeast side has the least crime and the west side the most.
Is crime going up in Niagara Falls?
Reported crime in Niagara Falls has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 45% and property crime down 28%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 9.0 to 5.0 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 39 to 28 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 27%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Niagara FallsUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Niagara Falls. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Niagara Falls
Violent, US
Property, Niagara Falls
Property, US
2016
+29%
+4%
+28%
+15%
2017
+25%
+4%
+25%
+12%
2018
-4%
+0%
+6%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+1%
+4%
+23%
-8%
2021
-14%
+6%
-26%
-10%
2022
-5%
+5%
-25%
-6%
2023
-24%
+2%
-28%
-7%
2024
-45%
-4%
-28%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Niagara Falls
CrimeGrade™ estimates Niagara Falls has about 65 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 76% more than the US as a whole and 64% more than New York.
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 Niagara Falls is assault, about 35% 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 Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Niagara Falls, 41% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at other places: 35% of them, against 7% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Other places (48%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Car theft
Other places (34%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Other places (35%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Other places (38%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Other places (46%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Other places (42%)
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 Niagara Falls compares with nearby cities
Niagara Falls has more crime than 5 of its 6 nearest cities. Grand Island and Youngstown have the least crime nearby.
Parking lots, shops and walkability in Niagara Falls
Two things set Niagara Falls apart: it has 3.8 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 16.7 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft, and it runs high here.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.3.8 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 93% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.16.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 92% 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. 65% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.C- (28 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 78% of US city residents
Show all 6
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.11.6% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 91% 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 Niagara Falls: D (13 of 100).5 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 67% 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.23% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 60% of US city residents
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 Niagara Falls
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Niagara Falls about $1,443 a year per household, 20% 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 $110 million a year, or $1,737 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$5.5 million
$87
Rape
$1.7 million
$27
Robbery
$1.5 million
$23
Assault
$15 million
$236
Burglary
$1.7 million
$27
Theft
$6.8 million
$108
Vehicle theft
$2.3 million
$37
Arson
$340,000
$5
Vandalism
$6.4 million
$102
Total
$41 million
$652
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 Niagara Falls 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 Niagara Falls, NY average a SchoolGrade of C+: 55% of students test proficient, against 58% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Niagara Falls on SchoolGrade
