Belchertown, MA carries a PlainCrime A safety grade with violent crime 41% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Belchertown, MA shows violent crime at 208.6 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 521.5 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 41% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade A from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
A safety grade
208.6/100K violent
521.5/100K property
-41% vs U.S.
The verdict
Belchertown earns an A safety grade: violent crime runs 41% below the U.S. average, placing it higher-crime than most U.S. cities.
A
PlainCrime safety grade
-41%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
44th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
521.5
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Belchertown, MA
Comparable rate records
Belchertown's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Massachusetts cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Belchertown's 208.6 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Becket (208.7), East Longmeadow (209.4), Easthampton (206.5), Seekonk (211.4). 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 158.4 per 100,000 in 2020 to 208.6 in 2024 (+31.7%). The highest observed value was 208.6 in 2024 and the lowest 124.4 in 2022. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
Belchertown sits mid-pack among comparable Massachusetts cities
At 208.6 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Belchertown ranks 105 of 317 — above 212 of the 316 other Massachusetts cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +45.1% against the cohort median of 143.8. 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 28.6% of the 112 Part I offenses reported in Belchertown for 2024, against a median of 21.4% across comparable Massachusetts cities — a gap of 7.2 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 counts dominate Belchertown'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.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
+15.7%
450.7 → 521.5/100K
Violent Crime Rate
+6.5%
195.9 → 208.6/100K
Property offenses lead Belchertown's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
80
521.5
1711
Larceny-Theft
58
378.1
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
12
78.2
-
Burglary
10
65.2
-
Arson
0
0
-
Violent Crime
32
208.6
352
Aggravated Assault
26
169.5
-
Rape
3
19.6
-
Robbery
3
19.6
-
Murder
0
0
-
Belchertown Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Belchertown property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
521.5/100K↑15.7%vs 2023
Belchertown violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · rose · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
208.6/100K↑6.5%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
15,148
158.4
561.1
109
2021
Comparable
15,148
138.6
442.3
88
2022
Comparable
15,277
124.4
549.8
103
2023
Comparable
15,311
195.9
450.7
99
2024
Comparable
15,339
208.6
521.5
112
How Belchertown sits among MA peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Belchertown Police Department NIBRS-participating
Belchertown's crime figures on this page originate from Belchertown Police Department's submission to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
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 Massachusetts
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Massachusetts cities closest to Belchertown in population. Their populations run from 14,798 to 15,864, against 15,339 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
These Massachusetts cities report the closest violent-crime rates to Belchertown's 208.6/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Belchertown has a violent crime rate of 208.6 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 521.5 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Belchertown, MA safe? ▼
Belchertown receives a safety grade of A (Safe), with a safety score of 75/100. The violent crime rate is 41% below the national average and 32% below the Massachusetts average.
What is the population of Belchertown, MA? ▼
The reporting population for Belchertown is 15,339 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Belchertown? ▼
In 2024, Belchertown reported 32 violent crimes and 80 property crimes, for a total of 112 reported offenses.
How do Belchertown's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Belchertown recorded about one reported offense per 137 residents and one reported violent offense per 479 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Belchertown? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Belchertown's violent crime rate increased by 6.5%, and the property crime rate increased by 15.7%.
What is the most common crime in Belchertown? ▼
The most common crime type in Belchertown is larceny-theft, accounting for 51.8% of all reported crimes (58 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Belchertown 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 Belchertown, MA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.