Amherst, OH carries a PlainCrime B safety grade with violent crime 32% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Amherst, OH shows violent crime at 238.5 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,000.3 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 32% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade B from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
B safety grade
238.5/100K violent
1000.3/100K property
-32% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Amherst, OH
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 49.0 per 100,000 in 2020 to 238.5 in 2024 (+386.8%). The highest observed value was 238.5 in 2024 and the lowest 7.7 in 2022. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Comparable rate records
Amherst's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Ohio cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Amherst's 238.5 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Van Wert (236.0), Springfield Township, Summit County (241.3), Norwood (241.4), Girard (243.8). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.
Position in the state cohort
Amherst reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Ohio cities
At 238.5 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Amherst ranks 77 of 340 — above 263 of the 339 other Ohio cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +110.9% against the cohort median of 113.1. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 19.3% of the 161 Part I offenses reported in Amherst for 2024, against a median of 10.6% across comparable Ohio cities — a gap of 8.7 points. Offense mix is shaped by which agencies report and how incidents are classified as well as by the underlying offenses, so it describes the reported record rather than a settled difference in conditions.
Property-offense composition
Larceny-theft dominates the property total more than it does across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 94.6% of reported property offenses in Amherst, against a cohort median of 83.9%. The remainder is burglary (5) and motor vehicle theft (2). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Property counts dominate Amherst's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Amherst's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 7.1 Census sq mi, Amherst logged 18.4 property and 4.4 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Amherst's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (76% of 161 offenses; mix index 6,114).
Violent offenses are 19% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (7.1 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
+286.5%
61.7 → 238.5/100K
Property Crime Rate
+35.2%
739.8 → 1000.3/100K
Property offenses lead Amherst's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
130
1000.3
1711
Larceny-Theft
123
946.4
-
Burglary
5
38.5
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
2
15.4
-
Arson
0
0
-
Violent Crime
31
238.5
352
Aggravated Assault
26
200.1
-
Robbery
3
23.1
-
Rape
2
15.4
-
Murder
0
0
-
Amherst Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Amherst property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Amherst Police Department
Reporting agency for Amherst NIBRS-participating
Amherst Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Amherst's 161 reported offenses (5-year span 2020-2024).
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Similar-Size Cities in Ohio
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Ohio cities closest to Amherst in population. Their populations run from 12,798 to 13,195, against 12,996 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Amherst reported 31 violent crimes and 130 property crimes, for a total of 161 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Amherst?
From 2023 to 2024, Amherst's violent crime rate increased by 286.5%, and the property crime rate increased by 35.2%.
What is the most common crime in Amherst?
The most common crime type in Amherst is larceny-theft, accounting for 76.4% of all reported crimes (123 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Amherst figures are FBI UCR CIUS Table 8 (vintage 2024), population-adjusted per 100,000.
Denominators are the reporting-year population on the municipal row. Incomplete years are dropped from rankings. Confirm at FBI Crime Data Explorer and Census.gov QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (mid-size municipal): figures are informational, not advice. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is the source. Consult a professional before decisions.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Amherst, OH rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.