Fenway-Kenmore, Boston, MA Violent Crime Rates and Maps
Fenway-Kenmore is a neighborhood of 38,200 residents in Boston, about 2 miles southwest of downtown · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in Fenway-Kenmore?
Violent crime in Fenway-Kenmore sits near the national middle: an A, safer than the neighborhoods where 58% of Americans live. Assaults make up 96% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury. Boston as a whole grades B for violent crime.
A
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 888 of 1,000About as much violent crime as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
58% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than Fenway-Kenmore as a whole, and 42% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. Fenway-Kenmore scores 888.
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 Fenway-Kenmore, Boston, MA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Fenway-Kenmore in Boston, 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 Fenway-Kenmore
Crime per resident runs higher than the grade. Fenway-Kenmore draws many workers, shoppers and visitors: it has 198 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. Crimes against them are counted against the few who live here, so crime per resident looks higher than the CrimeGrade™ suggests. The CrimeGrade™ counts everyone who spends time here.
How Fenway-Kenmore compares within Boston
Every part of Fenway-Kenmore where people live grades A or B for violent crime on the national scale. Violent crime grades across Fenway-Kenmore run from A+ to B+.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Fenway-Kenmore has less violent crime than 19 of the 20 neighborhoods in Boston. It covers much of the Fenway-Kenmore, South End, and Nubian Square areas.
Is violent crime going up in Boston?
Reported violent crime in Boston as a whole has held about steady since 2019, within 1%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults stayed at about 6.2 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7). Violent crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
BostonUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Boston. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Boston
Violent, US
2016
+14%
+4%
2017
+8%
+4%
2018
+2%
+0%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
+7%
+4%
2021
-2%
+6%
2022
+0%
+5%
2023
-0%
+2%
2024
+0%
-4%
Violent crime rates and types in Fenway-Kenmore
CrimeGrade™ estimates Fenway-Kenmore has about 17 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 27% more than the US as a whole and 43% less than Boston as a whole.
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 Fenway-Kenmore, about 96% 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.
Where and when violent crime happens in Boston
The Boston Police Department polices Fenway-Kenmore; these figures cover Boston as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Boston as a whole, 43% of aggravated assaults happen at a home, against 53% nationally. Robberies happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 43% of them.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (43%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (43%)
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.
Violent crime in Fenway-Kenmore and nearby neighborhoods
Fenway-Kenmore has less violent crime than 6 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Fenway-Kenmore. Beside each violent crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with neighborhoods of similar size and density, Fenway-Kenmore is safer than 94% of them.
Among the traits that tend to go with violent crime, two set Fenway-Kenmore apart: it has 198 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 72 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby. Places with both tend to report more robbery than places with only one of them, yet robbery runs lower here than that would suggest.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more robbery.198 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 95% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Fenway-Kenmore: B- (51 of 100).72 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 93% 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 assault. 81% of residents here live in walkable areas.A (82 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 85% 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.99% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 89% 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 violent crime costs Fenway-Kenmore
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs Fenway-Kenmore about $29 million a year, or $767 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $8.6 million, or $225 per resident.
Billed cost of violent crime per resident, per year
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.
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
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.
