Helena-West Helena, AR carries a PlainCrime F safety grade with violent crime 363% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Helena-West Helena, AR shows violent crime at 1,630.2 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 3,438.8 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 363% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade F from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
F safety grade
1630.2/100K violent
3438.8/100K property
+363% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Helena-West Helena, AR
Position in the state cohort
Helena-West Helena reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Arkansas cities
At 1630.2 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Helena-West Helena ranks 4 of 204 — above 200 of the 203 other Arkansas cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +432.4% against the cohort median of 306.2. 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
Helena-West Helena's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Arkansas cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Helena-West Helena's 1630.2 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Little Rock (1672.0), Pine Bluff (1580.8), Brinkley (1498.4), Marianna (1819.3). 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 32.2% of the 426 Part I offenses reported in Helena-West Helena for 2024, against a median of 21.0% across comparable Arkansas cities — a gap of 11.1 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
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 49.5% of reported property offenses in Helena-West Helena, against a cohort median of 74.8%. The remainder is burglary (110) and motor vehicle theft (36). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window close to where it started
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 1655.8 per 100,000 in 2020 to 1630.2 in 2024 (-1.5%). The highest observed value was 2454.2 in 2021 and the lowest 1296.0 in 2023. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Helena-West Helena'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.
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.
Helena-West Helena's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 13.1 Census sq mi, Helena-West Helena logged 22 property and 10.4 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Helena-West Helena leans on larceny-theft at 34% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 2,582.
Violent offenses are 32% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (13.1 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
+25.8%
1296 → 1630.2/100K
Property Crime Rate
-14.6%
4028 → 3438.8/100K
Property offenses lead Helena-West Helena's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs AR
Property Crime
289
3438.8
1711
1939.5
Larceny-Theft
143
1701.6
-
-
Burglary
110
1308.9
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
36
428.4
-
-
Arson
4
47.6
-
-
Violent Crime
137
1630.2
352
580.1
Aggravated Assault
113
1344.6
-
-
Rape
12
142.8
-
-
Murder
8
95.2
-
-
Robbery
4
47.6
-
-
Helena-West Helena Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Helena-West Helena 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
Helena-West Helena Police Department
Reporting agency for Helena-West Helena NIBRS-participating
Helena-West Helena Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Helena-West Helena's 426 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 Arkansas
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Arkansas cities closest to Helena-West Helena in population. Their populations run from 7,668 to 9,022, against 8,404 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
How many crimes were reported in Helena-West Helena?
In 2024, Helena-West Helena reported 137 violent crimes and 289 property crimes, for a total of 426 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Helena-West Helena?
From 2023 to 2024, Helena-West Helena's violent crime rate increased by 25.8%, and the property crime rate decreased by 14.6%.
What is the most common crime in Helena-West Helena?
The most common crime type in Helena-West Helena is larceny-theft, accounting for 33.6% of all reported crimes (143 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Helena-West Helena 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.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Helena-West Helena, AR rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.