Union Square is a neighborhood of 11,000 residents in Somerville, close to downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Union Square in Somerville safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+, Union Square has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 62% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A against C+. Somerville as a whole grades A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Union Square run from A- to B-, so check the map below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 765 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
38% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Union Square as a whole, and 62% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Union Square scores 765.
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 Union Square, Somerville, MA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Union Square in Somerville, 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 Union Square
Thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In Somerville as a whole, 60% of reported thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks, against 18% nationally.
Simple assaults are uncommon. Union Square has simple assaults at a small fraction of the US rate: 2.9 a year per 1,000 residents, against 9.7 nationally.
How Union Square compares within Somerville
Every part of Union Square where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Union Square run from A- to B-; every part of Union Square has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Union Square has less crime than 3 of the 8 neighborhoods in Somerville. It covers much of the Union Square area.
Is crime going up in Somerville?
Reported violent crime in Somerville as a whole peaked in 2022 and has fallen 11% since, back near its 2019 level. Property crime is up 34% from 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.1 to 2.2 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 13 to 17 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime rose 21%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
SomervilleUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Somerville. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Somerville
Violent, US
Property, Somerville
Property, US
2016
+25%
+4%
+18%
+15%
2017
+15%
+4%
+5%
+12%
2018
+7%
+0%
-0%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-7%
+4%
-5%
-8%
2021
-7%
+6%
-1%
-10%
2022
+22%
+5%
+8%
-6%
2023
+18%
+2%
+10%
-7%
2024
+8%
-4%
+34%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Union Square
CrimeGrade™ estimates Union Square has about 27 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 26% less than the US as a whole and close to Somerville 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 makes up about 54% of crime reported in Union Square. Assault is less common but costs more, because each one does far 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 Somerville
The Somerville Police Department polices Union Square; these figures cover Somerville as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Somerville as a whole, 66% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (66%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (54%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (60%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Streets and sidewalks (35%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (36%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (35%)
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 Union Square compares with nearby neighborhoods
Union Square has less crime than 5 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods.
Nightlife, walkability and density in Union Square
Two things set Union Square apart: it has 2.8 bars and nightlife spots for every 1,000 residents, against 0.6 nationally, and a Walk Grade of A+ (91 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole. 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 assault runs high here.
Bars and nightlifeBars, lounges, clubs and casinos. Places with more bars tend to report more assault and robbery.2.8 per 1,000 residentsUS: 0.6Higher than for 95% 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. 100% of residents here live in walkable areas.A+ (91 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 93% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.97% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 85% 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.0.2 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 83% 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 Union Square
Crime costs Union Square about $542 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 55% 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 $7.1 million a year, or $644 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 Union Square 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 Union Square, Somerville, MA average a SchoolGrade of B-: 45% of students test proficient, against 43% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Union Square on SchoolGrade
