Pine Lake is a city of 859 in DeKalb County, about 11 miles east of downtown Atlanta · Updated November 2026
Is Pine Lake, GA safe?
Pine Lake is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of F, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 94% of Americans live. Violent crime grades F and property crime D.
F
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 0 of 1,000Less safe than nearly all US neighborhoodsi What this means
6% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Pine Lake as a whole, and 94% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Pine Lake scores 0.
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 Pine Lake, GA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Pine Lake, 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 Pine Lake
Thefts and simple assaults both run high. In Pine Lake, each runs at more than triple the US rate: 51.6 thefts and 44.6 simple assaults a year per 1,000 residents, against 13.1 and 9.7 nationally.
Crime rates and types in Pine Lake
CrimeGrade™ estimates Pine Lake has about 136 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than triple the rate for the US as a whole and more than triple the rate for Georgia.
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 38% of crime reported in Pine Lake. 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.
How Pine Lake compares with nearby cities
Pine Lake has more crime than 8 of its 10 nearest cities. North Decatur and Tucker have the least crime nearby.
Crime costs Pine Lake about $2,665 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, more than double 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 $4.7 million a year, or $5,523 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$410,000
$472
Rape
$33,000
$38
Robbery
$49,000
$57
Assault
$430,000
$504
Burglary
$36,000
$42
Theft
$230,000
$265
Vehicle theft
$110,000
$125
Arson
$2,000
$2
Vandalism
$110,000
$127
Total
$1.4 million
$1,632
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 Pine Lake 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 Pine Lake, GA average a SchoolGrade of F: 22% of students test proficient, against 28% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Pine Lake on SchoolGrade
