Boston, MA Violent Crime Rates and Maps

Overall Crime Grade™

Violent Crime Grade	C
Property Crime Grade	B-
Other Crime Grade	B-

Which crimes are included?

$792.1 million

Cost of Crime™ for Boston, MA

In 2025, violent crime will cost $397 per household.

More cost data

On the map, green marks the parts of the Boston area with the least violent crime and red marks the most, weighted by the type and severity of each offense. Violent crime concentrates where people gather after dark, near nightlife, bars, and transit, more than on residential streets. The Interpreting the Crime Maps section below explains how to read those hot spots.

The C grade reflects how often assault, robbery, rape, and murder occur in the Boston area against the average US city, where the rate is about the same as the norm. Boston sits in the 45th percentile for violent-crime safety, ahead of 45% of cities and behind 55%. The grade covers only the Boston area's official city boundaries. See the table below for nearby cities.

The violent crime rate in the Boston area is 3.130 per 1,000 residents in a typical year. Residents generally consider the northeast part of the city the safest. Your chance of being a victim ranges from 1 in 220 in the central neighborhoods to 1 in 484 in the northeast.

Counting total incidents instead of per-capita rates, the central parts of Boston, MA report the most violent crime, about 5,291 cases per year. The southwest part reports the fewest, around 1,016 per year.

The Cost of Crime™ in Boston, MA

The tangible cost of violent crime in Boston is projected at $792,054,994 for 2025, about $155 per resident and $397 per household. That equals 0.3% of the median household income, and it counts only the bills that can be totaled: emergency care, lost wages, and the justice response. The larger cost, the harm to victims, comes later on this page. These tangible costs split into:

Criminal justice system costs (law enforcement, courts, and imprisonment): 45.6%
Direct costs to victims (damaged property, medical expenses, and lost wages): 40.1%
Lost economic contribution from offenders (time in prison or repeat offenses): 14.1%

How Much Does Violent Crime Cost in Boston Compared to Other Cities?

Boston, MA:	$155
Provincetown, MA:	$472
East Sandwich, MA:	$59
Massachusetts:	$155
USA:	$258

The tangible cost of violent crime is $155 per resident each year in Boston, which is $103 less than the national average and the same as Massachusetts's state average. The comparison below uses cities similar to Boston:

In Provincetown, MA, crime costs $472 per person, which is $316 more than in Boston.
In East Sandwich, MA, crime costs $59 per person, which is $97 less than in Boston

2025 Projected Violent Crime Cost by Type

The table below breaks the violent-crime total into its four offenses for Boston, with the projected cost per resident.

Crime	Cost to Boston	Cost per Boston Resident
Murder	$246.7 million	$48
Rape/Sexual Assault	$163.2 million	$32
Robbery	$57.8 million	$11
Assault	$324.3 million	$64
Total Cost of Violent Crime	$792,054,994	$155

The Human Cost of Violent Crime in Boston, MA

Much of what violent crime costs never reaches a bill. Pain, trauma, and lost quality of life for victims and their families typically outweigh the medical and legal totals above. Research-based methods put a figure on that harm so it can be compared across places. By those methods, the human cost of violent crime in Boston totals $2,532,292,065 ($497 per resident). Added to the tangible costs, the full estimate reaches $3,324,347,059 ($652 per resident). This human toll is what sets violent crime apart from property crime in Boston, MA, where the loss is mostly replaceable property. All Cost of Crime figures come from scholarly research on the cost of crime. Read more about our methodology here.

Interpreting the Violent Crime Maps

Violent crime rates are measured per resident, so places packed with visitors after dark read high even when few people live there. Bars, clubs, event venues, and transit hubs draw the crowds where assaults and robberies cluster. How strongly this shows on the map depends on the commercial base; the central part of the city has more retail establishments. A red block full of bars and venues does not mean the homes around it are dangerous.

Transit stations show the same effect: large moving crowds, few residents, so per-capita violent crime reads high. Major airports, of which the Boston area has 1, are the extreme case. Before judging a residential street, weigh both the per-capita rate and the total count of incidents, and note what draws crowds nearby.

The interactive maps load faster on a solid connection. Compare high speed internet in Boston, MA at ISP Reports.

Boston Violent Crime Breakdown

The table below shows which offenses feed the Violent Crime Grade above, each as crimes per 1,000 Boston residents in a standard year.

Crime Type	Crime Rate
Assault	2.216
Robbery	0.3605
Rape	0.5281
Murder	0.0258
Total Violent Crime	3.130 (C)

Individual Boston Crime Maps & Stats

Crime Maps and Rates for Nearby Cities

Compared to surrounding cities, the rate of violent crime in the Boston area is lower. The table below shows Crime Grades for cities close to the Boston area.

Nearby City	Overall Crime Grade	Violent Crime Grade	Property Crime Grade
Jamaica Plain, MA	C-	D	C
Brookline, MA	C	C-	C+
Charlestown, MA	C-	D	C
Allston, MA	D+	D	D+
Cambridge, MA	D+	D	D+
Mattapan, MA	C-	D-	B
Somerville, MA	C	D+	C
Brighton, MA	C+	D+	C+
Roslindale, MA	C+	D+	B
Chelsea, MA	C	D-	B

Crime Maps and Rates for City with Similar Populations

Boston is lower versus other cities of the same size for violent crime. The table below compares crime in cities with comparable overall population in the city‘s boundaries.

Similar City	Overall Crime Grade	Violent Crime Grade	Property Crime Grade
Phoenix, AZ	C	C-	C-
Riverside, CA	C-	D+	D+
Detroit, MI	D+	D-	D-
Seattle, WA	D-	D+	D+
San Francisco, CA	D	D	D
Washington, DC	C-	C	C
Minneapolis, MN	D+	C	C
Atlanta, GA	C	C-	C-
Miami, FL	B	C+	C+
Philadelphia, PA	C+	B-	B-

Considering only the violent crime rate, the Boston area is as safe as the Massachusetts state average and safer than the national average.

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All maps and statistics above are projections, not certainties, and provided without guarantee free of charge. Verify all info before making any decisions based on the data.