Bellingham, MA carries a PlainCrime B safety grade with violent crime 39% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Bellingham, MA shows violent crime at 215.5 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,044.3 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 39% 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
215.5/100K violent
1044.3/100K property
-39% vs U.S.
The verdict
Bellingham earns a B safety grade: violent crime runs 39% below the U.S. average, placing it higher-crime than most U.S. cities.
B
PlainCrime safety grade
-39%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
43rd
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
1,044.3
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Bellingham, MA
Comparable rate records
Bellingham's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Massachusetts cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Bellingham's 215.5 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Warren (215.4), Woburn (215.4), Kingston (216.9), Sturbridge (217.1). 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
Bellingham sits mid-pack among comparable Massachusetts cities
At 215.5 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Bellingham ranks 98 of 317 — above 219 of the 316 other Massachusetts cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +49.8% 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
The reported mix leans further toward property offenses than the state cohort
Violent offenses are 17.1% of the 228 Part I offenses reported in Bellingham for 2024, against a median of 21.5% across comparable Massachusetts cities — a gap of 4.4 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 87.8% of reported property offenses in Bellingham, against a cohort median of 78.1%. The remainder is burglary (12) and motor vehicle theft (11). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 208.6 per 100,000 in 2020 to 215.5 in 2024 (+3.3%). The highest observed value was 215.5 in 2024 and the lowest 169.4 in 2023. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Bellingham'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.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
+27.2%
169.4 → 215.5/100K
Property Crime Rate
-2.2%
1067.4 → 1044.3/100K
Property offenses lead Bellingham's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
189
1044.3
1711
Larceny-Theft
166
917.2
-
Burglary
12
66.3
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
11
60.8
-
Arson
1
5.5
-
Violent Crime
39
215.5
352
Aggravated Assault
27
149.2
-
Rape
8
44.2
-
Robbery
4
22.1
-
Murder
0
0
-
Bellingham Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Bellingham property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
1,044.3/100K↓2.2%vs 2023
Bellingham violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · rose · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
215.5/100K↑27.2%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
17,258
208.6
1176.3
239
2021
Comparable
17,571
182.1
961.8
201
2022
Comparable
16,914
171.5
975.5
194
2023
Comparable
17,706
169.4
1067.4
219
2024
Comparable
18,099
215.5
1044.3
228
How Bellingham sits among MA peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Bellingham Police Department NIBRS-participating
Bellingham's crime figures on this page originate from Bellingham 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 Bellingham in population. Their populations run from 17,618 to 18,524, against 18,099 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
These Massachusetts cities report the closest violent-crime rates to Bellingham's 215.5/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Bellingham has a violent crime rate of 215.5 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 1044.3 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Bellingham, MA safe? ▼
Bellingham receives a safety grade of B (Above Average), with a safety score of 69/100. The violent crime rate is 39% below the national average and 30% below the Massachusetts average.
What is the population of Bellingham, MA? ▼
The reporting population for Bellingham is 18,099 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Bellingham? ▼
In 2024, Bellingham reported 39 violent crimes and 189 property crimes, for a total of 228 reported offenses.
How do Bellingham's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Bellingham recorded about one reported offense per 79 residents and one reported violent offense per 464 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Bellingham? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Bellingham's violent crime rate increased by 27.2%, and the property crime rate decreased by 2.2%.
What is the most common crime in Bellingham? ▼
The most common crime type in Bellingham is larceny-theft, accounting for 72.8% of all reported crimes (166 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Bellingham 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 Bellingham, MA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.