The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Ross County, OH
Ross County is home to 76,500 residents and includes Chillicothe and Kingston · Updated November 2026
Is Ross County, OH safe?
Yes. Most US neighborhoods have little crime, and Ross County has less than most of them: its overall CrimeGrade™ is A, safer than the neighborhoods where 63% of Americans live. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A against A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Ross County run from A+ to C+, so check the map or the safest and least safe places 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 Ross County as a whole, and 37% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Ross County 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 Ross County, OH at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Ross County, 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 Ross County
Theft stands out among A-graded counties. For the typical resident of an A-graded US county, the figure is 9.3 thefts a year per 1,000 residents; Ross County has 18.3.
Aggravated assaults are uncommon. Ross County has aggravated assaults at less than half the US rate: 0.93 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
The safest and most dangerous places in Ross County
Nearly every part of Ross County where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Ross County run from A+ to C+; 77% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
99%
A or B 99%C 1%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Cities and towns in Ross County with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Across the county, the Bainbridge area has the least crime and the Chillicothe area the most.
Is crime going up in Ross County?
Reported crime in Ross County has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 45% and property crime down 36%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.9 to 1.6 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 36 to 23 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Ross CountyUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across Ross County. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Ross County
Violent, US
Property, Ross County
Property, US
2016
-2%
+4%
+19%
+15%
2017
-10%
+4%
+7%
+12%
2018
+1%
+0%
+4%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-23%
+4%
-4%
-8%
2021
-25%
+6%
-23%
-10%
2022
-28%
+5%
-28%
-6%
2023
-44%
+2%
-36%
-7%
2024
-46%
-4%
-36%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Ross County
CrimeGrade™ estimates Ross County has about 41 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 11% more than the US as a whole and 17% more than Ohio.
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 Ross County, about 44% 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 Ross County
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across Ross County, 2022 to 2024.
In Ross County, 65% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 27% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (65%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (46%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (27%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Homes (39%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (46%)
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 Ross County compares with nearby counties
Ross County has more crime than 9 of its 10 nearest counties. Vinton County and Adams County have the least crime nearby.
Night lighting, transit and walkability in Ross County
Two things set Ross County apart: it has 42% of the land where people live lit at night, against 78% nationally, and a Walk Grade of D- (10 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report less theft and vandalism, yet theft runs higher here than that would suggest.
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.42% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 88% of Americans
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 Ross County: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 86% of Americans
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. 90% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D- (10 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 82% of Americans
Show all 6
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.5% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 78% of Americans
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.37 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 68% of Americans
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.10.0 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 59% of Americans
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 Ross County
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Ross County about $936 a year per household, 22% 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 $62 million a year, or $808 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$2.0 million
$26
Rape
$2.6 million
$34
Robbery
$270,000
$3
Assault
$8.1 million
$106
Burglary
$1.9 million
$25
Theft
$7.2 million
$94
Vehicle theft
$2.0 million
$26
Arson
$370,000
$5
Vandalism
$3.1 million
$41
Total
$27 million
$359
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 Ross County 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 Ross County, OH average a SchoolGrade of C-: 59% of students test proficient, against 47% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Ross County on SchoolGrade
