The Acre is a neighborhood of 12,800 residents in Lowell, close to downtown · Updated November 2026
Is The Acre in Lowell safe?
Crime in The Acre is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B-. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 80% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than The Acre. Violent crime grades B- and property crime C+. Lowell as a whole grades B. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within The Acre run from B to D+, so check the map below.
B-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 550 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
20% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than The Acre as a whole, and 80% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. The Acre scores 550.
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 The Acre, Lowell, MA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in The Acre in Lowell, 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 The Acre
Aggravated assaults run high for a B-graded neighborhood. The Acre has 6.8 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a B-graded US neighborhood, the figure is 2.5.
Car thefts happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In Lowell as a whole, 61% of reported car thefts happen on streets and sidewalks, against 27% nationally.
How The Acre compares within Lowell
Most of The Acre grades well: 53% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 8% in areas graded D or F. Grades across The Acre run from B to D+; every part of The Acre has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
53%39%
A or B 53%C 39%D or F 8%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
The Acre has less crime than 2 of the 8 neighborhoods in Lowell. It covers much of the Acre area.
Is crime going up in Lowell?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Lowell as a whole is up 41%, while property crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 3.7 to 5.1 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 15 to 16 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime rose 21% and property crime fell 11%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
LowellUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Lowell. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Lowell
Violent, US
Property, Lowell
Property, US
2016
-6%
+4%
+32%
+15%
2017
-21%
+4%
+31%
+12%
2018
-10%
+0%
+3%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-17%
+4%
-6%
-8%
2021
-15%
+6%
-14%
-10%
2022
+5%
+5%
+11%
-6%
2023
+16%
+2%
+20%
-7%
2024
+40%
-4%
+7%
-15%
Crime rates and types in The Acre
CrimeGrade™ estimates The Acre has about 53 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 42% more than the US as a whole and 38% more than Lowell 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.
The largest share of crime reported in The Acre is assault, about 41% 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 Lowell
The Lowell Police Department polices The Acre; these figures cover Lowell as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Lowell as a whole, 51% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 49% of them, against 18% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (51%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (61%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (49%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Streets and sidewalks (31%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (40%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Other places (32%)
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 The Acre compares with nearby neighborhoods
The Acre has more crime than 8 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods. Frye Circle and Southeast Nashua have the least crime nearby.
Two things set The Acre apart: it has a Walk Grade of A- (74 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole, and 0.9 bars and nightlife spots for every 1,000 residents, against 0.6 nationally. It also combines many bars with dense blocks: places with both tend to report more assault and robbery than places with only one of them, and they run high here.
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. 68% of residents here live in walkable areas.A- (74 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 80% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Bars and nightlifeBars, lounges, clubs and casinos. Places with more bars tend to report more assault and robbery.0.9 per 1,000 residentsUS: 0.6Higher than for 79% of residents of US city neighborhoods
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.58 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 75% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.90% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 75% 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 The Acre
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs The Acre about $1,965 a year per household, 63% 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 $29 million a year, or $2,250 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 The Acre 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 The Acre, Lowell, MA average a SchoolGrade of F: 25% of students test proficient, against 27% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in The Acre on SchoolGrade
