Colonial Heights, VA is among the highest-crime cities in the country, and earns a D PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 31% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Colonial Heights, VA shows violent crime at 462.2 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 3,181.9 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 31% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade D from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
D safety grade
462.2/100K violent
3181.9/100K property
+31% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Colonial Heights, VA
Position in the state cohort
Colonial Heights reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Virginia cities
At 462.2 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Colonial Heights ranks 14 of 125 — above 111 of the 124 other Virginia cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +144.9% against the cohort median of 188.7. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Comparable rate records
Colonial Heights's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Virginia cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Colonial Heights's 462.2 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Gordonsville (460.5), Franklin (460.5), South Boston (464.1), Norfolk (469.5). 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 374.4 per 100,000 in 2020 to 462.2 in 2024 (+23.5%). The highest observed value was 462.2 in 2024 and the lowest 374.4 in 2020. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Colonial Heights'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.
Colonial Heights's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 7.5 Census sq mi, Colonial Heights logged 78.7 property and 11.4 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Colonial Heights's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (80% of 678 offenses; mix index 6,525).
Violent offenses are only 13% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (7.5 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
+10.2%
419.3 → 462.2/100K
Property Crime Rate
-3.7%
3305.6 → 3181.9/100K
Property offenses lead Colonial Heights's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs VA
vs US avg
Property Crime
592
3181.9
1590.1
1711
Larceny-Theft
542
2913.2
-
-
Burglary
30
161.2
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
20
107.5
-
-
Arson
3
16.1
-
-
Violent Crime
86
462.2
222.8
352
Aggravated Assault
69
370.9
-
-
Robbery
10
53.7
-
-
Rape
5
26.9
-
-
Murder
2
10.7
-
-
Colonial Heights Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Colonial Heights property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Colonial Heights Police Department
Reporting agency for Colonial Heights NIBRS-participating
Colonial Heights Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Colonial Heights's 678 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 Virginia
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Virginia cities closest to Colonial Heights in population. Their populations run from 15,524 to 22,297, against 18,605 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Colonial Heights at 462.2/100K violent and 3,181.9/100K property - matched below outside Virginia (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
How many crimes were reported in Colonial Heights?
In 2024, Colonial Heights reported 86 violent crimes and 592 property crimes, for a total of 678 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Colonial Heights?
From 2023 to 2024, Colonial Heights's violent crime rate increased by 10.2%, and the property crime rate decreased by 3.7%.
What is the most common crime in Colonial Heights?
The most common crime type in Colonial Heights is larceny-theft, accounting for 79.9% of all reported crimes (542 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Colonial Heights 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 Colonial Heights, VA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.