The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Plainville, MA
Plainville is a town of 10,500 in Norfolk County, about 30 miles southwest of downtown Boston · Updated November 2026
Is Plainville, MA safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A means crime in Plainville is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Plainville sits near the middle: 57% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 43% in neighborhoods with less. Violent crime grades A and property crime A-. Its neighborhoods are much alike, from A+ to A-; see the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 869 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
57% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Plainville as a whole, and 43% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Plainville scores 869.
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 Plainville, MA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Plainville, 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 Plainville
Thefts run high for an A-graded city. Plainville has 18.0 thefts a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 8.3.
The safest and least safe parts of Plainville
Every part of Plainville where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Plainville run from A+ to A-; 90% 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 Plainville, the west side has the least crime and the south side the most.
Is crime going up in Plainville?
Reported property crime in Plainville has risen 99% since 2019. Too few violent crimes are reported here each year for a reliable violent crime trend. Burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 5.4 to 18 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime rose 49%.
Property crime, change since 2019
PlainvilleUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Plainville. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, Plainville
Property, US
2016
+111%
+15%
2017
+159%
+12%
2018
+28%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-14%
-8%
2021
+4%
-10%
2022
+85%
-6%
2023
+119%
-7%
2024
+227%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Plainville
CrimeGrade™ estimates Plainville has about 36 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about the same as the US as a whole and 33% more than 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.
Theft is the most common crime in Plainville, about 51% of everything reported, but assault 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 Plainville
Plainville has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Plainville, 62% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (62%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Parking lots and garages (31%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Plainville compares with nearby cities
Plainville has more crime than 7 of its 9 nearest cities. Cumberland, RI and Wrentham have the least crime nearby.
Two things set Plainville apart: it has a Walk Grade of D- (9 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole, and 2.8 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, yet theft runs higher here than that would suggest.
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. 97% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D- (9 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 81% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.2.8 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 81% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.13.4 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 79% of US city residents
Show all 6
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.69% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 79% 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.4% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 76% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.48 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 59% 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 Plainville
Crime costs Plainville about $739 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 39% 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 $8.3 million a year, or $791 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$88,000
$8
Rape
$320,000
$30
Robbery
$41,000
$4
Assault
$1.1 million
$109
Burglary
$220,000
$21
Theft
$970,000
$92
Vehicle theft
$53,000
$5
Arson
$18,000
$2
Vandalism
$410,000
$39
Total
$3.3 million
$311
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 Plainville 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 Plainville, MA average a SchoolGrade of A-: 52% of students test proficient, against 49% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Plainville on SchoolGrade
