The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Olive Branch, MS
Olive Branch is the sixth-largest city in Mississippi, with 53,600 residents in DeSoto County, about 18 miles southeast of downtown Memphis · Updated November 2026
Is Olive Branch, MS safe?
Yes. Crime is low across most of the US, and lower still in Olive Branch: an overall CrimeGrade™ of A, safer than the neighborhoods where 63% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Olive Branch run from A+ to B+, so check the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 888 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
63% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Olive Branch as a whole, and 37% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Olive Branch scores 888.
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 Olive Branch, MS at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Olive Branch, 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 Olive Branch
Simple assault is the exception. Olive Branch grades A for violent crime, but simple assault grades B+, worse than in the neighborhoods where 68% of Americans live.
Burglaries are uncommon. Olive Branch has burglaries at less than half the US rate: 0.81 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.4 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Olive Branch
Every part of Olive Branch where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Olive Branch run from A+ to B+; 87% 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 Olive Branch, the southwest side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Olive Branch?
Reported violent crime in Olive Branch peaked in 2022 and has fallen 29% since, back near its 2019 level. Property crime is down 40% from 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults stayed at about 2.0 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 23 to 14 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 23%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Olive BranchUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Olive Branch. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Olive Branch
Violent, US
Property, Olive Branch
Property, US
2016
-9%
+4%
+12%
+15%
2017
-4%
+4%
+20%
+12%
2018
-6%
+0%
+5%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+1%
+4%
-18%
-8%
2021
+40%
+6%
-34%
-10%
2022
+40%
+5%
-29%
-6%
2023
+5%
+2%
-23%
-7%
2024
-1%
-4%
-40%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Olive Branch
CrimeGrade™ estimates Olive Branch has about 30 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 20% less than the US as a whole and close to Mississippi.
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 Olive Branch, about 41% 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.
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 Olive Branch
Olive Branch has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Olive Branch, 59% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 42% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (59%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (42%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (42%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (45%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (61%)
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 Olive Branch compares with nearby cities
Olive Branch has less crime than 4 of its 8 nearest cities.
Walkability, parking lots and density in Olive Branch
Two things set Olive Branch apart: it has a Walk Grade of F (5 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole, and 3.1 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places that are hard to get around on foot tend to report less theft and assault, and theft runs low 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. 98% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.F (5 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 92% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.3.1 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 87% 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.2% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 86% of US city residents
Show all 6
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 Olive Branch: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% 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.3.3% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 84% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.64 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 82% 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 Olive Branch
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Olive Branch about $758 a year per household, 37% 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 $28 million a year, or $523 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$200,000
$4
Rape
$540,000
$10
Robbery
$450,000
$8
Assault
$6.3 million
$117
Burglary
$390,000
$7
Theft
$2.6 million
$49
Vehicle theft
$2.2 million
$40
Arson
$20,000
under $1
Vandalism
$1.6 million
$29
Total
$14 million
$265
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 Olive Branch 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 Olive Branch, MS average a SchoolGrade of A-: 62% of students test proficient, against 49% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Olive Branch on SchoolGrade
