Bethany, MO has a A safety grade (75/100) with a violent crime rate of 205 per 100,000, 42% below the national average.

FBI UCR 2024 · per-capita rates · small city

Bethany, MO Crime Rate & Safety

Bethany is a small municipal reporter (2,928 on the UCR row). Per-100,000 violent and property rates are shown with MO and U.S. context.

Data updated 2026-09-05

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A
Safety grade
512.3
Property / 100K
204.9
Violent / 100K
3K
Population

Bethany, MO is close to the national middle for violent crime, and earns an A PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 42% below the U.S. average

According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Bethany, MO shows violent crime at 204.9 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 512.3 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 42% 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
  • 204.9/100K violent
  • 512.3/100K property
  • -42% vs U.S.

What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Bethany, MO

2020–2024 direction

The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher

Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 32.9 per 100,000 in 2020 to 204.9 in 2024 (+522.3%). The highest observed value was 311.0 in 2022 and the lowest 32.9 in 2020. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.

Small-count caution

The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable

Bethany reported 6 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 2,928. At this volume one additional or one fewer report moves the per-100,000 rate noticeably, so the figure is better read as a data point than as a precise measurement, and year-to-year swings here are expected.

Comparable rate records

Bethany's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Missouri cohort

The nearest comparable 2024 records to Bethany's 204.9 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Liberty (203.3), St. Peters (206.7), Galena (207.0), Herculaneum (202.4). 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.

Offense mix

Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix

Violent offenses are 28.6% of the 21 Part I offenses reported in Bethany for 2024, against a median of 13.4% across comparable Missouri cities — a gap of 15.1 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.

Position in the state cohort

Bethany sits mid-pack among comparable Missouri cities

At 204.9 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Bethany ranks 128 of 272 — above 144 of the 271 other Missouri cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +11.2% against the cohort median of 184.3. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.

Property counts dominate Bethany'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.

Based on 6 reported violent incidents in a population of 2,928. At this volume, one additional or one fewer report can shift the rate and letter grade noticeably; small-city crime counts are inherently more volatile year to year than large-city counts, so treat this grade as a data point, not a precise ranking.

Small-city offense counts above are voluntary UCR submissions, not neighbourhood advice. Year-to-year swings can look large when the population base is modest.

Bethany's 2024 municipal footprint

Across 4.4 Census sq mi, Bethany logged 3.4 property and 1.4 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.

Bethany leans on larceny-theft at 52% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 3,424.

Violent offenses are 29% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.

Bethany offense mix (2024)

Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (4.4 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
+99.3%
102.8 → 204.9/100K
Property Crime Rate
-58.5%
1233.3 → 512.3/100K

Property offenses lead Bethany's 2024 record

Offense Count Rate /100K
Property Crime 15 512.3
Larceny-Theft 11 375.7
Burglary 3 102.5
Motor Vehicle Theft 1 34.2
Arson 0 0
Violent Crime 6 204.9
Aggravated Assault 4 136.6
Rape 2 68.3
Murder 0 0
Robbery 0 0

Bethany Crime Trend (2020-2024)

Bethany property crime rate trend

Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR

Property crime rate (2024)
512.3/100K 58.5% vs 2023
01,0002,0003,0004,000 20202021202220232024 512

Bethany violent crime rate trend

Secondary series · rose · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR

Violent crime rate (2024)
204.9/100K 99.3% vs 2023
0100200300400 20202021202220232024 205
Year Coverage Population Violent Rate Property Rate
2020 Comparable 3,037 32.9 922
2021 Comparable 3,025 231.4 1223.1
2022 Comparable 2,894 311 2971.7
2023 Comparable 2,919 102.8 1233.3
2024 Comparable 2,928 204.9 512.3

Bethany Police Department

Reporting agency for Bethany NIBRS-participating

Bethany Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Bethany's 21 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 Missouri

Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Missouri cities closest to Bethany in population. Their populations run from 2,724 to 3,014, against 2,928 here. Or use our side-by-side compare tool to benchmark two cities directly.

More about Bethany's 2024 record

How many crimes were reported in Bethany?

In 2024, Bethany reported 6 violent crimes and 15 property crimes, for a total of 21 reported offenses.

Is crime increasing or decreasing in Bethany?

From 2023 to 2024, Bethany's violent crime rate increased by 99.3%, and the property crime rate decreased by 58.5%.

What is the most common crime in Bethany?

The most common crime type in Bethany is larceny-theft, accounting for 52.4% of all reported crimes (11 incidents in 2024).

Small-city read: Bethany is sourced from FBI UCR Table 8 for 2024; rates use that row's population.

Small-city rows use the same per-100,000 formula; a few unreported years can leave gaps in the trend table. Verify the agency's submission on FBI.gov UCR.

Disclaimer (small city): UCR counts here are informational only. They are not a victimization probability. Source: FBI UCR Program.

Federal sources for this small-city row
Cite, share, or save this city record

Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Bethany, MO rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.

Bulk download: city crime dataset (CSV/JSON)

Put this to use

Put the Bethany, MO FBI UCR record to work: compare peers, open the state atlas, or look up another city.

A citywide UCR rate is a starting point, not a neighbourhood verdict: read the full profile and the year coverage notes before drawing conclusions.

Every figure on PlainCrime is rendered directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) source data, no number is typed in by an editor. Bethany is scored as a small-city UCR reporter (2,928 on the row). See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.