Elba, AL has a D safety grade (28/100) with a violent crime rate of 451 per 100,000, 28% above the national average.

FBI UCR 2024 Per-capita rates FBI UCR + NIBRS

Elba, AL Crime Rate & Safety

Elba is a small municipal reporter (3,547 on the UCR row). Per-100,000 violent and property rates are shown with AL and U.S. context.

My saved cities About this data
D
Safety grade
Below Average
3044.8
Property / 100K
451.1
Violent / 100K
4K
Population
+78%
property vs U.S.

Elba, AL carries a PlainCrime D safety grade with violent crime 28% above the U.S. average

According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Elba, AL shows violent crime at 451.1 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 3,044.8 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 28% 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
  • 451.1/100K violent
  • 3044.8/100K property
  • +28% vs U.S.

The verdict

Elba earns a D safety grade: violent crime runs 28% above the U.S. average, placing it among the highest-crime cities in the country.

D
PlainCrime safety grade
+28%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
17th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
3,044.8
property crimes per 100K

Based on 16 reported violent incidents in a population of 3,547. 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.

What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Elba, AL

Small-count caution

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

Elba reported 16 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 3,547. 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

Elba's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Alabama cohort

The nearest comparable 2024 records to Elba's 451.1 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Frisco City (450.5), Addison (448.4), Brookwood (454.5), Ranburne (459.8). 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

Elba sits mid-pack among comparable Alabama cities

At 451.1 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Elba ranks 72 of 263 — above 191 of the 262 other Alabama cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +111.3% against the cohort median of 213.5. 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 Elba'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 16 reported violent incidents in a population of 3,547. 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.

Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)

Violent Crime Rate
-22.3%
580.7 → 451.1/100K
Property Crime Rate
-6.4%
3252 → 3044.8/100K

Property offenses lead Elba's 2024 record

Offense Count Rate /100K
Property Crime 108 3044.8
Larceny-Theft 78 2199
Burglary 20 563.9
Motor Vehicle Theft 10 281.9
Arson 1 28.2
Violent Crime 16 451.1
Aggravated Assault 10 281.9
Robbery 3 84.6
Murder 2 56.4
Rape 1 28.2

Elba Crime Trend (2020-2024)

Elba property crime rate trend

Lead series · rose across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR

Property crime rate (2024)
3,044.8/100K 6.4% vs 2023
01,0002,0003,0004,000 20202021202220232024 3,045

Elba violent crime rate trend

Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR

Violent crime rate (2024)
451.1/100K 22.3% vs 2023
-2000200400600800 20202021202220232024 451
Year Coverage Population Violent Rate Property Rate
2020 Comparable 3,796 0 184.4
2021 Comparable 3,916 127.7 740.6
2022 Comparable 3,398 382.6 3619.8
2023 Comparable 3,444 580.7 3252
2024 Comparable 3,547 451.1 3044.8

How Elba sits among AL peers

Elba vs. similar-size AL cities, violent vs. property crime. X axis violent crime per 100K, Y axis property crime per 100K, split by the national averages. 9 cities; the anchor is ringed. Elba vs. similar-size AL cities, violent vs. property crime 54 487 Violent crime per 100K → 232 3,623 Property crime per 100K → Elba SAFEST HIGHEST CRIME Safety grade A / B C D / F
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages

Reporting Agency

Elba Police Department NIBRS-participating

Elba's crime figures on this page originate from Elba 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 Alabama

Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Alabama cities closest to Elba in population. Their populations run from 3,327 to 3,887, against 3,547 here. Or use our side-by-side compare tool to benchmark two cities directly.

Similar violent-crime rates in Alabama

These Alabama cities report the closest violent-crime rates to Elba's 451.1/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the crime rate in Elba, AL?
Elba has a violent crime rate of 451.1 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 3044.8 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Elba, AL safe?
Elba receives a safety grade of D (Below Average), with a safety score of 28/100. The violent crime rate is 28% above the national average and 20% above the Alabama average.
What is the population of Elba, AL?
The reporting population for Elba is 3,547 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Elba?
In 2024, Elba reported 16 violent crimes and 108 property crimes, for a total of 124 reported offenses.
How do Elba's reported offenses compare with its population?
In 2024, Elba recorded about one reported offense per 29 residents and one reported violent offense per 222 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Elba?
From 2023 to 2024, Elba's violent crime rate decreased by 22.3%, and the property crime rate decreased by 6.4%.
What is the most common crime in Elba?
The most common crime type in Elba is larceny-theft, accounting for 62.9% of all reported crimes (78 incidents in 2024).

Small-city read: Elba 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

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

Bulk download: city crime dataset (CSV/JSON)

Every figure on PlainCrime is rendered directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) source data, no number is typed in by an editor. Elba is scored as a small-city UCR reporter (3,547 on the row). See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.