Merriam, KS carries a PlainCrime D safety grade with violent crime 24% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Merriam, KS shows violent crime at 435.4 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 5,586.4 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 24% 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
435.4/100K violent
5586.4/100K property
+24% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Merriam, KS
Comparable rate records
Merriam's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Kansas cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Merriam's 435.4 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Cherryvale (426.5), Lawrence (461.5), Bonner Springs (406.2), Arkansas City (401.7). 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
Merriam reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Kansas cities
At 435.4 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Merriam ranks 22 of 125 — above 103 of the 124 other Kansas cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +129.5% against the cohort median of 189.7. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Offense mix
The reported mix leans further toward property offenses than the state cohort
Violent offenses are 7.2% of the 650 Part I offenses reported in Merriam for 2024, against a median of 13.8% across comparable Kansas cities — a gap of 6.6 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 478.0 per 100,000 in 2020 to 435.4 in 2024 (-8.9%). The highest observed value was 686.3 in 2022 and the lowest 435.4 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Merriam'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.
Merriam's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 4.3 Census sq mi, Merriam logged 139.7 property and 10.9 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Merriam's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (71% of 650 offenses; mix index 5,349).
Violent offenses are only 7% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (4.3 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
-24.7%
578.5 → 435.4/100K
Property Crime Rate
-5.8%
5932 → 5586.4/100K
Property offenses lead Merriam's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs KS
Property Crime
603
5586.4
1711
2090
Larceny-Theft
460
4261.6
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
109
1009.8
-
-
Burglary
34
315
-
-
Arson
2
18.5
-
-
Violent Crime
47
435.4
352
456.2
Aggravated Assault
36
333.5
-
-
Rape
8
74.1
-
-
Robbery
2
18.5
-
-
Murder
1
9.3
-
-
Merriam Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Merriam 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
Merriam Police Department
Reporting agency for Merriam NIBRS-participating
Merriam Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Merriam's 650 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 Kansas
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Kansas cities closest to Merriam in population. Their populations run from 9,989 to 11,700, against 10,794 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Merriam reported 47 violent crimes and 603 property crimes, for a total of 650 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Merriam?
From 2023 to 2024, Merriam's violent crime rate decreased by 24.7%, and the property crime rate decreased by 5.8%.
What is the most common crime in Merriam?
The most common crime type in Merriam is larceny-theft, accounting for 70.8% of all reported crimes (460 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Merriam 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 Merriam, KS rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.