The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Sanford, ME
Sanford is a city of 11,900 in York County, about 30 miles southwest of downtown Portland · Updated November 2026
Is Sanford, ME safe?
Crime in Sanford is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 68% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Sanford. Violent crime grades A- and property crime B-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Sanford run from A to B-, so check the map below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 713 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
32% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Sanford as a whole, and 68% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Sanford scores 713.
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 Sanford, ME at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Sanford, 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 Sanford
Aggravated assaults are less common than the crime level suggests. Crime overall in Sanford runs 68% above the US rate, but aggravated assaults run at less than half that rate: 0.90 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
Car thefts are less common than in most B-graded cities. Sanford has 1.3 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a B-graded US city, the figure is 2.9.
The safest and least safe parts of Sanford
Every part of Sanford where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Sanford run from A to B-; 10% 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 Sanford, the southwest side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Sanford?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Sanford is down 23%, while property crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.0 to 1.6 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 27 to 26 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
SanfordUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Sanford. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Sanford
Violent, US
Property, Sanford
Property, US
2016
+36%
+4%
+25%
+15%
2017
+13%
+4%
-2%
+12%
2018
+31%
+0%
-1%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-21%
+4%
-5%
-8%
2021
-11%
+6%
-15%
-10%
2022
-2%
+5%
-12%
-6%
2023
-9%
+2%
-6%
-7%
2024
-23%
-4%
-4%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Sanford
CrimeGrade™ estimates Sanford has about 62 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 68% more than the US as a whole and more than double the rate for Maine.
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 40% of crime reported in Sanford. 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.
Where and when crime happens in Sanford
Sanford has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Sanford, 53% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 55% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (53%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Homes (60%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Homes (55%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (43%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Aggravated assault
Homes (60%)
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 Sanford compares with nearby cities
Sanford has the most crime of its 5 nearest cities.
Two things set Sanford apart: it has 3.8% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 28 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report less burglary, vandalism and arson, yet burglary and vandalism run higher here than that would suggest.
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 Sanford: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.3.8% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 77% 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. 72% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (23 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 67% 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.73% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 76% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.28 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 75% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.8.5 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 68% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Sanford on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
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 Sanford
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Sanford about $1,224 a year per household, about the same as 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 $12 million a year, or $1,013 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$290,000
$24
Rape
$580,000
$49
Robbery
$23,000
$2
Assault
$2.0 million
$169
Burglary
$200,000
$17
Theft
$1.5 million
$128
Vehicle theft
$240,000
$20
Arson
$190,000
$16
Vandalism
$1.0 million
$87
Total
$6.1 million
$511
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 Sanford 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 Sanford, ME average a SchoolGrade of C: 83% of students test proficient, against 80% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Sanford on SchoolGrade
