Westside Community Betterment, Springfield, MO Violent Crime Rates and Maps
Westside Community Betterment is a neighborhood of 10,400 residents in Springfield, about 2 miles southwest of downtown · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in Westside Community Betterment?
Westside Community Betterment grades C- for violent crime, with more of it than the neighborhoods where 90% of Americans live. Assaults make up 93% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury. Springfield as a whole grades B for violent crime.
C-
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 326 of 1,000More violent crime than nearly all US neighborhoodsi What this means
10% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than Westside Community Betterment as a whole, and 90% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. Westside Community Betterment scores 326.
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.
Violent crime map of Westside Community Betterment
Click the map to explore
FDCBA+
Highest crimeSafest
Colorblind friendlyoff
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 Westside Community Betterment, Springfield, MO at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Westside Community Betterment in Springfield, 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 Westside Community Betterment
Reported rapes run high for a neighborhood with a C for violent crime. Westside Community Betterment has 1.1 reported rapes a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a US neighborhood graded C for violent crime, the figure is 0.44.
Aggravated assaults run high. Westside Community Betterment has aggravated assaults at more than triple the US rate: 9.8 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
How Westside Community Betterment compares within Springfield
In Westside Community Betterment, 17% of residents live in areas graded A or B for violent crime, 31% in areas graded C and 52% in areas graded D or F. Violent crime grades across Westside Community Betterment run from B to F.
17%31%52%
A or B 17%C 31%D or F 52%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Westside Community Betterment has less violent crime than 9 of the 23 neighborhoods in Springfield. It covers much of the Westside Community Betterment and Young-Lilly areas.
Is violent crime going up in Springfield?
Reported violent crime in Springfield as a whole has fallen 23% since 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 15 to 12 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7). Violent crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
SpringfieldUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Springfield. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Springfield
Violent, US
2016
-12%
+4%
2017
-12%
+4%
2018
-14%
+0%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
+3%
+4%
2021
+4%
+6%
2022
-7%
+5%
2023
-23%
+2%
2024
-23%
-4%
Violent crime rates and types in Westside Community Betterment
CrimeGrade™ estimates Westside Community Betterment has about 34 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than double the rate for the US as a whole and 30% more than Springfield 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 Westside Community Betterment, about 93% 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 Springfield
The Springfield Police Department polices Westside Community Betterment; these figures cover Springfield as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Springfield as a whole, 63% of aggravated assaults happen at a home, against 53% nationally. Robberies happen most often at stores and businesses: 48% of them.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Robbery
Stores and businesses (48%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (63%)
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 Westside Community Betterment and nearby neighborhoods
Westside Community Betterment has less violent crime than 5 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Westside Community Betterment. 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, Westside Community Betterment has more violent crime than 76% of them.
Transit, density and walkability in Westside Community Betterment
Among the traits that tend to go with violent crime, two set Westside Community Betterment apart: it has 12% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally, and 0.8 bars and nightlife spots for every 1,000 residents, against 0.6 nationally. Places where few residents live in dense blocks tend to report less robbery, yet robbery runs higher here than that would suggest.
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Westside Community Betterment: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 95% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.12% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 88% 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. 68% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (23 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 68% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Bars and nightlifeBars, lounges, clubs and casinos. Places with more bars tend to report more assault and robbery.0.8 per 1,000 residentsUS: 0.6Higher than for 75% 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 Westside Community Betterment
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs Westside Community Betterment about $30 million a year, or $2,936 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $6.8 million, or $655 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
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.
