Ponce is an unincorporated community of 146,200 in Ponce Municipio and the main city of the Ponce metro area, home to 278,500 · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in Ponce?
Ponce grades C+ for violent crime, with more of it than the neighborhoods where 85% of Americans live. Assaults make up 69% of it, most of them aggravated assaults, which involve a weapon or a serious injury.
C+
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 509 of 1,000More violent crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
15% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than Ponce as a whole, and 85% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. Ponce scores 509.
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 Ponce, PR at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Ponce, 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 Ponce
Aggravated assault is a strength. Ponce grades C+ for violent crime, but aggravated assault grades A, better than in the neighborhoods where 58% of Americans live.
Simple assaults are uncommon. Ponce has simple assaults at a small fraction of the US rate: 0.65 a year per 1,000 residents, against 9.7 nationally.
Where violent crime is lowest and highest in Ponce
Violent crime varies widely across Ponce: 35% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 29% in areas graded D or F. Violent crime grades across Ponce run from A to F.
35%36%29%
A or B 35%C 36%D or F 29%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
1Urbanizacion Las Delicias, northwestAggravated assaults run about 30% lower here than in the rest of Ponce.B+735
2Parcelas Barahona, Urbanizacion Glenview Gdns & Comunidad Luciana, northeastRobberies run about 40% higher here than in the rest of Ponce.C+510
3Villa del Carmen, Urbanizacion Starlight & Urbanizacion Perla del Sur, southRobberies run about 30% lower here than in the rest of Ponce.C+467
4Parcelas Nueva Vida, Urbanizacion Punta Diamante & Urbanizacion Punto Oro, southwestClose to the rest of Ponce on most crimes.C459
5Urbanizacion Valle Verde-Ponce, Urbanizacion La Rambla & Urbanizacion Riveras de Bucana, eastClose to the rest of Ponce on most crimes.C456
6Urbanizacion Los Caobos & Urbanizacion Constancia, southeastClose to the rest of Ponce on most crimes.C443
7Jardines del Caribe, Estancias del Golf Club & Urbanizacion Baldorioty, westClose to the rest of Ponce on most crimes.C415
8Urbanizacion Santa Teresita, Barriada Tamarindo & Barrio Pueblito Nuevo, centralClose to the rest of Ponce on most crimes.D228
Neighborhood areas of Ponce, 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.
Violent crime rates and types in Ponce
CrimeGrade™ estimates Ponce has about 2.4 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 82% less than the US as a whole and close to Puerto Rico.
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 Ponce, about 69% of the total. Murder and rape are far rarer, but they account for 87% of the cost of violent crime here.
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 Ponce and nearby cities
Ponce has the most violent crime of its 10 nearest cities.
Among the traits that tend to go with violent crime, two set Ponce apart: it has a Walk Grade of C (33 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole, and 49% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Even so, 54% of residents in Ponce live in car-dependent areas, where most errands take a car. Places like that tend to report more assault, yet assault runs lower here than that would suggest.
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.C (33 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 84% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.49% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 83% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Ponce on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
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 Ponce
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs Ponce about $331 million a year, or $2,262 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $50 million, or $343 per resident.
Billed cost of violent crime per resident, per year
How the cost breaks down
Pain and suffering are about 85% of that full cost.
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$42 million
$288
Rape
$1.4 million
$10
Robbery
$1.9 million
$13
Assault
$4.8 million
$33
Total
$50 million
$343
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
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.
