The Rochester metro area, the 53rd-largest in the US, is home to 1.06 million residents; Rochester itself is the fourth-largest city in New York · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in the Rochester area?
Violent crime in the Rochester area sits near the national middle: an A, safer than the neighborhoods where 52% of Americans live. Assaults make up 94% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury. The city of Rochester itself grades B- for violent crime.
A
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 868 of 1,000About as much violent crime as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
52% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than the Rochester area as a whole, and 48% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. The Rochester area scores 868.
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 Rochester, NY at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in the Rochester 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 Rochester area
Robberies run high in Edgerton, Lyell-Otis & Dutchtown. In this part of central Rochester, they run at more than double the rate in the rest of Rochester.
Aggravated assaults are uncommon. The Rochester area has aggravated assaults at about half the US rate: 1.3 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
Where violent crime is lowest and highest in the Rochester area
Low violent crime is the norm across the Rochester area: 87% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 10% in areas graded D or F. Violent crime grades across the Rochester area run from A+ to F.
87%10%
A or B 87%C 3%D or F 10%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
6Group 14621 & Northland Lyceum, northeastAggravated assaults run about 70% higher here than in the rest of Rochester.D+280
7Edgerton, Lyell-Otis & Dutchtown, centralAggravated assaults run at more than double the rate in the rest of Rochester.F0
Neighborhood areas of the city of Rochester, 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.
Cities and towns in the Rochester 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.
Is violent crime going up in the Rochester area?
Reported violent crime in the Rochester area has fallen 25% since 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.5 to 1.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 25%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Rochester areaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across the Rochester area. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Rochester area
Violent, US
2016
+13%
+4%
2017
+15%
+4%
2018
+2%
+0%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
+1%
+4%
2021
-5%
+6%
2022
-0%
+5%
2023
+0%
+2%
2024
-25%
-4%
Violent crime rates and types in the Rochester area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the Rochester area has about 11 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 19% less than the US as a whole and 37% less than New York.
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 Rochester area, 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 the Rochester area and nearby metro areas
The Rochester area has less violent crime than 7 of its 10 nearest metro areas.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the Rochester 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 Rochester area is safer than 76% of them.
The Rochester area looks like a typical metro area on the traits that tend to go with violent crime.
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.16% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 64% 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 Rochester area: D- (9 of 100).4 trips an hourUS: noneLower than for 52% 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 Rochester area
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs the Rochester area about $840 million a year, or $793 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $199 million, or $188 per resident.
Billed cost of violent crime per resident, per year
How the cost breaks down
Pain and suffering are about 76% of that full cost.
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$66 million
$62
Rape
$11 million
$10
Robbery
$15 million
$14
Assault
$108 million
$102
Total
$199 million
$188
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 Rochester 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
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.
