Gardner, MA is higher-crime than most U.S. cities, and earns a B PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 7% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Gardner, MA shows violent crime at 328.8 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 620.1 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 7% 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
328.8/100K violent
620.1/100K property
-7% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Gardner, MA
Position in the state cohort
Gardner reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Massachusetts cities
At 328.8 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Gardner ranks 43 of 317 — above 274 of the 316 other Massachusetts cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +128.6% 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.
Comparable rate records
Gardner's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Massachusetts cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Gardner's 328.8 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Freetown (326.6), Framingham (325.5), Plymouth (322.6), Quincy (335.1). 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 34.7% of the 202 Part I offenses reported in Gardner for 2024, against a median of 21.4% across comparable Massachusetts cities — a gap of 13.3 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 450.8 per 100,000 in 2020 to 328.8 in 2024 (-27.1%). The highest observed value was 450.8 in 2020 and the lowest 202.5 in 2022. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Gardner'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.
Gardner's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 22.1 Census sq mi, Gardner logged 6 property and 3.2 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Gardner leans on larceny-theft at 50% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 3,607.
Violent offenses are 35% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (22.1 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
+24.5%
264.2 → 328.8/100K
Property Crime Rate
-19.8%
773.4 → 620.1/100K
Property offenses lead Gardner's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
132
620.1
1711
Larceny-Theft
101
474.4
-
Burglary
19
89.3
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
12
56.4
-
Arson
2
9.4
-
Violent Crime
70
328.8
352
Aggravated Assault
63
295.9
-
Rape
6
28.2
-
Robbery
1
4.7
-
Murder
0
0
-
Gardner Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Gardner 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
Gardner Police Department
Reporting agency for Gardner NIBRS-participating
Gardner Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Gardner's 202 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 Gardner in population. Their populations run from 20,171 to 21,304, against 21,288 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Gardner reported 70 violent crimes and 132 property crimes, for a total of 202 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Gardner?
From 2023 to 2024, Gardner's violent crime rate increased by 24.5%, and the property crime rate decreased by 19.8%.
What is the most common crime in Gardner?
The most common crime type in Gardner is larceny-theft, accounting for 50.0% of all reported crimes (101 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Gardner 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 Gardner, MA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.