The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Poplar Bluff, MO
Poplar Bluff is a city of 31,000 in Butler County · Updated November 2026
Is Poplar Bluff, MO safe?
Mostly, yes. Crime in Poplar Bluff is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A-, but most US neighborhoods are safer still: Poplar Bluff has more crime than the neighborhoods where 60% of Americans live. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, A- against B+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Poplar Bluff run from A+ to C-, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 778 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
40% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Poplar Bluff as a whole, and 60% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Poplar Bluff scores 778.
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 Poplar Bluff, MO at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Poplar Bluff, 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 Poplar Bluff
Aggravated assault stands out among A-graded cities. For the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 1.2 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents; Poplar Bluff has 4.9.
Simple assault at about triple the US rate. Poplar Bluff has 27.6 simple assaults a year per 1,000 residents, against 9.7 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Poplar Bluff
Most of Poplar Bluff grades well: 85% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Poplar Bluff run from A+ to C-; 41% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
85%15%
A or B 85%C 15%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Poplar Bluff, the northwest side has the least crime and the east side the most.
Crime rates and types in Poplar Bluff
CrimeGrade™ estimates Poplar Bluff has about 68 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 84% more than the US as a whole and 63% more than Missouri.
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.
The largest share of crime reported in Poplar Bluff is assault, about 47% of the total. It also makes up 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 Poplar Bluff
Poplar Bluff has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Poplar Bluff, 57% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 36% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (57%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (50%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Homes (36%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Homes (51%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (73%)
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; they are over one in five for burglary, aggravated assault.
How Poplar Bluff compares with nearby cities
Poplar Bluff has the most crime of its 3 nearest cities.
Empty homes, parking lots and walkability in Poplar Bluff
Two things set Poplar Bluff apart: it has 12.0% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 3.6 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places like that tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson, and burglary runs high here.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.12.0% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher 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.3.6 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 91% 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. 84% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (12 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 68% of US city residents
Show all 6
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.14.8 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 86% 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 Poplar Bluff: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% 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.3% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 81% 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 Poplar Bluff
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Poplar Bluff about $1,766 a year per household, 47% more 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 $61 million a year, or $1,956 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$2.6 million
$85
Rape
$680,000
$22
Robbery
$230,000
$7
Assault
$11 million
$341
Burglary
$1.1 million
$35
Theft
$3.8 million
$122
Vehicle theft
$1.8 million
$57
Arson
$58,000
$2
Vandalism
$820,000
$27
Total
$22 million
$699
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 Poplar Bluff 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 Poplar Bluff, MO average a SchoolGrade of C: 41% of students test proficient, against 33% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Poplar Bluff on SchoolGrade
