Columbia, MO has a C safety grade (45/100) with a violent crime rate of 348 per 100,000, 1% below the national average.
FBI UCR 2024 Per-capita rates FBI UCR + NIBRS
Columbia, MO Crime Rate & Safety
Compiled by PlainCrime, Independent crime-data publisher
At 130,354 residents, Columbia is a large city: FBI UCR Table 8 rates (per 100,000) here are read against MO and U.S. averages before the offense-family breakdown.
Columbia, MO carries a PlainCrime C safety grade with violent crime 1% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Columbia, MO shows violent crime at 347.5 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,317.5 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 1% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade C from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
C safety grade
347.5/100K violent
2317.5/100K property
-1% vs U.S.
The verdict
Columbia earns a C safety grade: violent crime runs 1% below the U.S. average, placing it higher-crime than most U.S. cities.
C
PlainCrime safety grade
-1%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
25th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
2,317.5
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Columbia, MO
Comparable rate records
Columbia's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Missouri cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Columbia's 347.5 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Chillicothe (347.3), Buckner (350.3), Florissant (341.3), Hannibal (358.0). 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
Columbia sits mid-pack among comparable Missouri cities
At 347.5 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Columbia ranks 77 of 272 — above 195 of the 271 other Missouri cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +88.5% 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 458.2 per 100,000 in 2020 to 347.5 in 2024 (-24.2%). The highest observed value was 511.8 in 2021 and the lowest 347.5 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property-offense composition
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 69.3% of reported property offenses in Columbia, against a cohort median of 78.6%. The remainder is burglary (434) and motor vehicle theft (494). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Property counts dominate Columbia'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.
On a large city row, these are citywide reported offense totals - not neighbourhood advice. Conditions vary by place and time; reporting rates differ across jurisdictions.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
-11.5%
392.7 → 347.5/100K
Property Crime Rate
-9%
2547.8 → 2317.5/100K
Property offenses lead Columbia's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
3,021
2317.5
1711
Larceny-Theft
2,093
1605.6
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
494
379
-
Burglary
434
332.9
-
Arson
30
23
-
Violent Crime
453
347.5
352
Aggravated Assault
338
259.3
-
Robbery
52
39.9
-
Rape
50
38.4
-
Murder
13
10
-
Columbia Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Columbia property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
2,317.5/100K↓9%vs 2023
Columbia violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
347.5/100K↓11.5%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
124,829
458.2
2708.5
3,953
2021
Comparable
126,418
511.8
2513.9
3,825
2022
Comparable
127,862
471.6
2634.1
3,971
2023
Comparable
129,602
392.7
2547.8
3,811
2024
Comparable
130,354
347.5
2317.5
3,474
How Columbia sits among MO peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Columbia Police Department NIBRS-participating
Columbia's crime figures on this page originate from Columbia 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 Missouri
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Missouri cities closest to Columbia in population. Their populations run from 59,993 to 170,527, against 130,354 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
These Missouri cities report the closest violent-crime rates to Columbia's 347.5/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Columbia has a violent crime rate of 347.5 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 2317.5 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Columbia, MO safe? ▼
Columbia receives a safety grade of C (Average), with a safety score of 45/100. The violent crime rate is 1% below the national average and 25% below the Missouri average.
What is the population of Columbia, MO? ▼
The reporting population for Columbia is 130,354 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Columbia? ▼
In 2024, Columbia reported 453 violent crimes and 3,021 property crimes, for a total of 3,474 reported offenses.
How do Columbia's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Columbia recorded about one reported offense per 38 residents and one reported violent offense per 288 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Columbia? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Columbia's violent crime rate decreased by 11.5%, and the property crime rate decreased by 9%.
What is the most common crime in Columbia? ▼
The most common crime type in Columbia is larceny-theft, accounting for 60.2% of all reported crimes (2,093 incidents in 2024).
Large-city read: Columbia's rates come from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, CIUS Table 8, vintage 2024.
Incomplete reporters stay out of rate rankings. Cross-check population with Census ACS; state UCR programs for statewide context. Primary verify links: FBI.gov UCR, Census QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (large city): informational crime rates only - not legal, insurance, or personal-safety advice. Source: FBI UCR. Ask a qualified professional before acting.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Columbia, MO rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.