Montague, MA carries a PlainCrime C safety grade with violent crime 22% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Montague, MA shows violent crime at 428.4 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 630.7 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 22% above 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
428.4/100K violent
630.7/100K property
+22% vs U.S.
The verdict
Montague earns a C safety grade: violent crime runs 22% above the U.S. average, placing it among the highest-crime cities in the country.
C
PlainCrime safety grade
+22%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
18th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
630.7
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Montague, MA
Position in the state cohort
Montague reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Massachusetts cities
At 428.4 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Montague ranks 26 of 317 — above 291 of the 316 other Massachusetts cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +197.9% 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.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 40.4% of the 89 Part I offenses reported in Montague for 2024, against a median of 21.4% across comparable Massachusetts cities — a gap of 19.1 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.
Comparable rate records
Montague's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Massachusetts cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Montague's 428.4 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Middleboro (427.2), Marlborough (421.2), Cambridge (436.7), Lawrence (439.7). 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 574.2 per 100,000 in 2020 to 428.4 in 2024 (-25.4%). The highest observed value was 794.8 in 2021 and the lowest 428.4 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 64.2% of reported property offenses in Montague, against a cohort median of 78.1%. The remainder is burglary (15) and motor vehicle theft (4). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Property counts dominate Montague'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.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
-30.2%
903.5 → 630.7/100K
Violent Crime Rate
-21.7%
546.8 → 428.4/100K
Property offenses lead Montague's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
53
630.7
1711
Larceny-Theft
34
404.6
-
Burglary
15
178.5
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
4
47.6
-
Arson
1
11.9
-
Violent Crime
36
428.4
352
Aggravated Assault
31
368.9
-
Robbery
4
47.6
-
Rape
1
11.9
-
Murder
0
0
-
Montague Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Montague property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
630.7/100K↓30.2%vs 2023
Montague violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
428.4/100K↓21.7%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
8,185
574.2
781.9
111
2021
Comparable
8,178
794.8
1063.8
152
2022
Comparable
8,581
594.3
780.8
118
2023
Comparable
8,412
546.8
903.5
122
2024
Comparable
8,403
428.4
630.7
89
How Montague sits among MA peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Montague Police Department NIBRS-participating
Montague's crime figures on this page originate from Montague 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 Massachusetts
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Massachusetts cities closest to Montague in population. Their populations run from 8,262 to 8,586, against 8,403 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
These Massachusetts cities report the closest violent-crime rates to Montague's 428.4/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Montague has a violent crime rate of 428.4 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 630.7 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Montague, MA safe? ▼
Montague receives a safety grade of C (Average), with a safety score of 52/100. The violent crime rate is 22% above the national average and 39% above the Massachusetts average.
What is the population of Montague, MA? ▼
The reporting population for Montague is 8,403 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Montague? ▼
In 2024, Montague reported 36 violent crimes and 53 property crimes, for a total of 89 reported offenses.
How do Montague's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Montague recorded about one reported offense per 94 residents and one reported violent offense per 233 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Montague? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Montague's violent crime rate decreased by 21.7%, and the property crime rate decreased by 30.2%.
What is the most common crime in Montague? ▼
The most common crime type in Montague is larceny-theft, accounting for 38.2% of all reported crimes (34 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Montague 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 Montague, MA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.