The Melbourne metro area, the 92nd-largest in the US, is home to 632,800 residents · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in the Melbourne area?
Violent crime in the Melbourne area runs higher than in most US neighborhoods: an A-, with more violent crime than the neighborhoods where 65% of Americans live. Assaults make up 95% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury. The city of Melbourne itself grades B+ for violent crime.
A-
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 780 of 1,000More violent crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
35% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than the Melbourne area as a whole, and 65% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. The Melbourne area scores 780.
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 Melbourne, FL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in the Melbourne area, 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 the Melbourne area
Crime per resident runs lower than the grade suggests. Few people come to the Melbourne area to work or shop: it has only 38 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. With few visitors, its crime per resident looks lower than its CrimeGrade™ suggests. The CrimeGrade™ weighs each crime against the people, homes and parked cars actually here.
Where violent crime is lowest and highest in the Melbourne area
Low violent crime is the norm across the Melbourne area: 86% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 3% in areas graded D or F. Violent crime grades across the Melbourne area run from A+ to F.
86%11%
A or B 86%C 11%D or F 3%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Cities and towns in the Melbourne metro area with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by violent crime CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Violent crime rates and types in the Melbourne area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the Melbourne area has about 14 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 6% more than the US as a whole and 20% more than Florida.
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 the Melbourne area, about 95% 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 the Melbourne area and nearby metro areas
The Melbourne area has less violent crime than 5 of its 10 nearest metro areas.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the Melbourne area. Beside each violent crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with metro areas of similar size and density, the Melbourne area has more violent crime than 60% of them.
Among the traits that tend to go with violent crime, one sets the Melbourne area apart: it has 5% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report less robbery, yet robbery runs higher here than that would suggest.
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.5% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 92% of Americans in metro areas
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for the Melbourne area: F (5 of 100).2 trips an hourUS: noneLower than for 75% of Americans in metro areas
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 the Melbourne area
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs the Melbourne area about $678 million a year, or $1,072 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $157 million, or $249 per resident.
Billed cost of violent crime per resident, per year
How the cost breaks down
Pain and suffering are about 77% of that full cost.
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$38 million
$61
Rape
$14 million
$22
Robbery
$7.3 million
$11
Assault
$98 million
$155
Total
$157 million
$249
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. These figures cover the whole Melbourne metro area. 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.
