Burlington, MA is higher-crime than most U.S. cities, and earns a B PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 36% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Burlington, MA shows violent crime at 224.9 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,662.7 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 36% 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
224.9/100K violent
1662.7/100K property
-36% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Burlington, MA
Comparable rate records
Burlington's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Massachusetts cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Burlington's 224.9 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Westborough (225.8), Weymouth (223.7), Great Barrington (222.3), Somerville (221.4). 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 155.4 per 100,000 in 2020 to 224.9 in 2024 (+44.7%). The highest observed value was 224.9 in 2024 and the lowest 123.8 in 2021. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
Burlington sits mid-pack among comparable Massachusetts cities
At 224.9 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Burlington ranks 88 of 317 — above 229 of the 316 other Massachusetts cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +56.4% 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 11.9% of the 512 Part I offenses reported in Burlington for 2024, against a median of 21.5% across comparable Massachusetts cities — a gap of 9.6 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 91.4% of reported property offenses in Burlington, against a cohort median of 78.1%. The remainder is burglary (26) and motor vehicle theft (13). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Property counts dominate Burlington'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.
Burlington's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 11.8 Census sq mi, Burlington logged 38.4 property and 5.2 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Burlington's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (80% of 512 offenses; mix index 6,609).
Violent offenses are only 12% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (11.8 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
-13.2%
1915.5 → 1662.7/100K
Violent Crime Rate
+5.9%
212.4 → 224.9/100K
Property offenses lead Burlington's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs MA
Property Crime
451
1662.7
1101.2
Larceny-Theft
412
1519
-
Burglary
26
95.9
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
13
47.9
-
Arson
0
0
-
Violent Crime
61
224.9
308.8
Aggravated Assault
51
188
-
Rape
6
22.1
-
Robbery
4
14.7
-
Murder
0
0
-
Burlington Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Burlington 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
Burlington Police Department
Reporting agency for Burlington NIBRS-participating
Burlington Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Burlington's 512 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 Massachusetts
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Massachusetts cities closest to Burlington in population. Their populations run from 25,616 to 28,594, against 27,124 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Burlington reported 61 violent crimes and 451 property crimes, for a total of 512 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Burlington?
From 2023 to 2024, Burlington's violent crime rate increased by 5.9%, and the property crime rate decreased by 13.2%.
What is the most common crime in Burlington?
The most common crime type in Burlington is larceny-theft, accounting for 80.5% of all reported crimes (412 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Burlington 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 Burlington, MA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.