The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Pittsfield, MA
Pittsfield is a city of 45,000 in Berkshire County and the main city of the Pittsfield metro area, home to 129,400 · Updated November 2026
Is Pittsfield, MA safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A- means crime in Pittsfield is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Pittsfield sits near the middle: 43% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 57% in neighborhoods with less. Violent and property crime both grade A- here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Pittsfield run from A+ to C-, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 799 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
43% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Pittsfield as a whole, and 57% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Pittsfield scores 799.
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 Pittsfield, MA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Pittsfield, 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 Pittsfield
Reported rape is the exception. Pittsfield grades A- for violent crime, but reported rape grades C-, worse than in the neighborhoods where 93% of Americans live.
Car thefts and simple assaults both run low. In Pittsfield, each runs at less than half the US rate: 0.98 car thefts and 4.2 simple assaults a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 and 9.7 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Pittsfield
Most of Pittsfield grades well: 89% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Pittsfield run from A+ to C-; 47% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
89%11%
A or B 89%C 11%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Pittsfield, the southwest side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Pittsfield?
Reported crime in Pittsfield has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 28% and property crime down 35%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 7.1 to 5.1 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 19 to 12 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 21%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
PittsfieldUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Pittsfield. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Pittsfield
Violent, US
Property, Pittsfield
Property, US
2016
+11%
+4%
+25%
+15%
2017
+24%
+4%
+35%
+12%
2018
+18%
+0%
+49%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+10%
+4%
-20%
-8%
2021
-11%
+6%
-20%
-10%
2022
+6%
+5%
-15%
-6%
2023
-9%
+2%
-31%
-7%
2024
-28%
-4%
-35%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Pittsfield
CrimeGrade™ estimates Pittsfield has about 28 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 24% less than the US as a whole and close to Massachusetts.
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 Pittsfield, about 28% 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 Pittsfield Police Department's 2024 count of robbery fell far below its usual level, a sign of a reporting break, so CrimeGrade™ used the department's earlier years instead.
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 Pittsfield
Pittsfield has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Pittsfield, 54% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 57% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (54%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Homes (44%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Homes (57%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (48%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Robbery
Homes (33%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (55%)
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 Pittsfield compares with nearby cities
Pittsfield has the most crime of its 5 nearest cities.
Night lighting, shops and walkability in Pittsfield
Pittsfield looks like a typical city on the traits that tend to go with crime.
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.65% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 80% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.12.8 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 75% 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. 74% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (21 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 64% of US city residents
Show all 6
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.55 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher 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 Pittsfield: D- (7 of 100).3 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 60% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.1.7 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 52% 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 Pittsfield
Crime costs Pittsfield about $882 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 27% 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 $66 million a year, or $1,478 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$2.4 million
$53
Rape
$2.5 million
$56
Robbery
$780,000
$17
Assault
$6.1 million
$135
Burglary
$1.5 million
$34
Theft
$1.7 million
$38
Vehicle theft
$670,000
$15
Arson
$35,000
$1
Vandalism
$2.2 million
$49
Total
$18 million
$398
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 Pittsfield 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 Pittsfield, MA average a SchoolGrade of C-: 38% of students test proficient, against 34% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Pittsfield on SchoolGrade
