Southside Columbus is a neighborhood of 6,880 residents in Columbus, close to downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Southside Columbus in Columbus safe?
Southside Columbus has more crime than most of the country: an overall CrimeGrade™ of C-, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 87% of Americans live. Violent crime grades C+ and property crime F. Columbus as a whole grades C. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Southside Columbus run from B- to D-, so check the map below.
C-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 343 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
13% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Southside Columbus as a whole, and 87% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Southside Columbus scores 343.
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 Southside Columbus, Columbus, OH at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Southside Columbus in Columbus, 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 Southside Columbus
Reported rapes run high for a C-graded neighborhood. Southside Columbus has 1.6 reported rapes a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a C-graded US neighborhood, the figure is 0.39.
Car thefts and burglaries both run high. In Southside Columbus, each runs at more than double the US rate: 6.4 car thefts and 5.6 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 and 2.4 nationally.
Crime rates and types in Southside Columbus
CrimeGrade™ estimates Southside Columbus has about 70 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 89% more than the US as a whole and close to Columbus as a whole.
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 Southside Columbus, about 36% 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 Columbus
The Columbus Police Department polices Southside Columbus; these figures cover Columbus as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Columbus as a whole, 59% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 58% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (59%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (33%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (58%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Parking lots and garages (34%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (28%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (50%)
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 Southside Columbus compares with nearby neighborhoods
Southside Columbus has less crime than 7 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Southside Columbus. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with neighborhoods of similar size and density, Southside Columbus has more crime than 59% of them.
Nightlife, walkability and shops in Southside Columbus
Two things set Southside Columbus apart: it has 1.7 bars and nightlife spots for every 1,000 residents, against 0.6 nationally, and a Walk Grade of A- (74 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report more assault and robbery, and assault runs high here.
Bars and nightlifeBars, lounges, clubs and casinos. Places with more bars tend to report more assault and robbery.1.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 0.6Higher than for 90% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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. 73% of residents here live in walkable areas.A- (74 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 80% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft and car theft.12.8 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 73% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.4 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 71% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 Southside Columbus
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Southside Columbus about $1,399 a year per household, 16% 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 $15 million a year, or $2,195 per resident.
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 Southside Columbus 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
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 Southside Columbus, Columbus, OH average a SchoolGrade of F: 26% of students test proficient, against 22% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Southside Columbus on SchoolGrade
