Blacksburg is a town of 54,800 in Montgomery County and the main city of the Blacksburg metro area, home to 181,700 · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in Blacksburg?
Violent crime in Blacksburg is a little lower than in most US neighborhoods: an A, safer than the neighborhoods where 65% of Americans live. Assaults make up 94% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury.
A
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 908 of 1,000Less violent crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
65% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than Blacksburg as a whole, and 35% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. Blacksburg scores 908.
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 violent crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its violent crime with the people who spend time there, on one national scale, from green for the least to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy downtown or nightlife strip can show red while the homes around it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a solid connection. Compare high speed internet in Blacksburg, VA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Blacksburg, 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 about violent crime in Blacksburg
Reported rape is the exception. Blacksburg grades A for violent crime, but reported rape grades B+, worse than in the neighborhoods where 70% of Americans live.
Aggravated assaults are uncommon. Blacksburg has aggravated assaults at a small fraction of the US rate: 0.47 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
Where violent crime is lowest and highest in Blacksburg
Every part of Blacksburg where people live grades A or B for violent crime on the national scale. Violent crime grades across Blacksburg run from A+ to A-.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
1Hethwood-Prices Fork, southwestClose to the rest of Blacksburg on most crimes.A919
2Tom's Creek & Shenandoah, northwestClose to the rest of Blacksburg on most crimes.A917
3Downtown Blacksburg & Downtown Blacksburg Eastside, centralClose to the rest of Blacksburg on most crimes.A910
4Ellett-Jennelle, southeastSimple assaults run about 40% higher here than in the rest of Blacksburg.A892
5Kabrich Crescent & Northside Park, northClose to the rest of Blacksburg on most crimes.A878
Neighborhood areas of Blacksburg, ranked by violent crime CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Is violent crime going up in Blacksburg?
Reported violent crime in Blacksburg has fallen 33% since 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 1.2 to 0.8 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7). Violent crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
BlacksburgUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Blacksburg. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Blacksburg
Violent, US
2016
-16%
+4%
2017
-49%
+4%
2018
-20%
+0%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-43%
+4%
2021
-31%
+6%
2022
-57%
+5%
2023
-24%
+2%
2024
-33%
-4%
Violent crime rates and types in Blacksburg
CrimeGrade™ estimates Blacksburg has about 7.7 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 42% less than the US as a whole and 38% less than Virginia.
All violent crime
Assaults
Robbery
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. Violent crime here includes simple assaults, which the FBI's violent crime rate leaves out.
Assault is the most common violent crime in Blacksburg, about 94% of the total.
Each CrimeGrade™ here compares a violent crime with the people who spend time in an area, not only the people who live there. 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.
Violent crime in Blacksburg and nearby cities
Blacksburg has less violent crime than 4 of its 7 nearest cities.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Blacksburg. Beside each violent crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with cities of similar size and density, Blacksburg is safer than 80% of them.
Among the traits that tend to go with violent crime, two set Blacksburg apart: it has 148 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby, and 38% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report more robbery.
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Blacksburg: D+ (19 of 100).148 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 99% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.38% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 74% 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 assault. 67% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (22 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 66% of US city residents
Show all 4
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more robbery.42 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 50% of US city residents
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 violent crime costs Blacksburg
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs Blacksburg about $24 million a year, or $433 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $6.1 million, or $112 per resident.
Billed cost of violent crime per resident, per year
How the cost breaks down
Pain and suffering are about 74% of that full cost.
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.2 million
$23
Rape
$1.4 million
$26
Robbery
$60,000
$1
Assault
$3.4 million
$63
Total
$6.1 million
$112
How CrimeGrade™ works
The violent crime CrimeGrade™ covers murder, rape, robbery and assault, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most, on one scale for the whole country.
It weighs each violent crime against the people who spend time in an area, so a busy downtown is graded on its workers and visitors as well as its residents.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them. Blacksburg is the other kind of example: few people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks lower than its CrimeGrade™ suggests.
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.
