The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Nicholasville, KY
Nicholasville is a city of 42,700 in Jessamine County, about 12 miles south of downtown Lexington · Updated November 2026
Is Nicholasville, KY safe?
Yes. Crime is low across most of the US, and lower still in Nicholasville: an overall CrimeGrade™ of A, safer than the neighborhoods where 67% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A here. Its neighborhoods are much alike, from A+ to A-; see the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 901 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
67% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Nicholasville as a whole, and 33% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Nicholasville scores 901.
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 Nicholasville, KY at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Nicholasville, 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 Nicholasville
Car thefts and aggravated assaults both run low. In Nicholasville, each runs at a small fraction of the US rate: 0.76 car thefts and 0.73 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 and 2.6 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Nicholasville
Every part of Nicholasville where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Nicholasville run from A+ to A-; 75% 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 Nicholasville, the southeast side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Nicholasville?
Reported crime in Nicholasville has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 29% and property crime down 41%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 1.6 to 1.1 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 26 to 15 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 13%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
NicholasvilleUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Nicholasville. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Nicholasville
Violent, US
Property, Nicholasville
Property, US
2016
+13%
+4%
+41%
+15%
2017
+26%
+4%
+26%
+12%
2018
+27%
+0%
+7%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+41%
+4%
+10%
-8%
2021
-28%
+6%
-16%
-10%
2022
-10%
+5%
-31%
-6%
2023
-22%
+2%
-32%
-7%
2024
-29%
-4%
-41%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Nicholasville
CrimeGrade™ estimates Nicholasville has about 24 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 34% less than the US as a whole and close to Kentucky.
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 makes up about 44% of crime reported in Nicholasville. Assault is less common but 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 Nicholasville
Nicholasville has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Nicholasville, 58% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 46% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (58%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (50%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (46%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (43%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
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 Nicholasville compares with nearby cities
Of the 4 cities closest to Nicholasville, 3 have less crime. Troy and Keene have the least.
Night lighting, density and walkability in Nicholasville
One thing sets Nicholasville apart: it has 6% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report less robbery and car theft, and car theft runs low here.
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.77% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 74% 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.6% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 72% 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 (13 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 66% 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.2.3 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 70% 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 Nicholasville: F (3 of 100).under 1 trip an hourUS: noneLower than for 64% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.11.3 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 62% 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 Nicholasville
Crime costs Nicholasville about $626 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 48% 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 $25 million a year, or $593 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.5 million
$35
Rape
$480,000
$11
Robbery
$190,000
$4
Assault
$3.0 million
$70
Burglary
$760,000
$18
Theft
$2.3 million
$55
Vehicle theft
$490,000
$12
Arson
$52,000
$1
Vandalism
$970,000
$23
Total
$9.7 million
$228
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 Nicholasville 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 Nicholasville, KY average a SchoolGrade of A-: 47% of students test proficient, against 33% projected for schools like them. Overall, they greatly exceed expectations. See schools in Nicholasville on SchoolGrade
