Vernon Hill is a neighborhood of 4,390 residents in Worcester, close to downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Vernon Hill in Worcester safe?
Vernon Hill is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of F, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 93% of Americans live. Violent crime grades F and property crime D. Worcester as a whole grades B-. Its neighborhoods are much alike, from D- to F; see the map below.
F
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 0 of 1,000Less safe than nearly all US neighborhoodsi What this means
7% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Vernon Hill as a whole, and 93% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Vernon Hill scores 0.
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 Vernon Hill, Worcester, MA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Vernon Hill in Worcester, 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 Vernon Hill
Aggravated assaults run high. Vernon Hill has aggravated assaults at more than triple the US rate: 14.9 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
Crime rates and types in Vernon Hill
CrimeGrade™ estimates Vernon Hill has about 82 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than double the rate for the US as a whole and 69% more than Worcester 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 Vernon Hill is assault, about 59% 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 Worcester
The Worcester Police Department polices Vernon Hill; these figures cover Worcester as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Worcester as a whole, 62% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 49% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (62%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Homes (49%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Homes (49%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (53%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (41%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (51%)
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 Vernon Hill compares with nearby neighborhoods
Vernon Hill has more crime than 9 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods. Grafton Hill and Broadmeadow Brook have the least crime nearby.
Two things set Vernon Hill apart: it has 2.5 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and 13 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report less theft and car theft, yet theft and car theft run higher here than that would suggest.
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft and car theft.2.5 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 93% of residents of US city neighborhoods
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.13 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 83% 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.B (56 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 69% 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.94% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 79% 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 Vernon Hill
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Vernon Hill about $2,950 a year per household, more than double 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 $21 million a year, or $4,680 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 Vernon Hill 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 Vernon Hill, Worcester, MA average a SchoolGrade of F: 16% of students test proficient, against 18% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Vernon Hill on SchoolGrade
