Niagara Falls, NY carries a PlainCrime D safety grade with violent crime 42% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Niagara Falls, NY shows violent crime at 501.1 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,807.8 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 42% 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
501.1/100K violent
2807.8/100K property
+42% vs U.S.
The verdict
Niagara Falls earns a D safety grade: violent crime runs 42% above the U.S. average, placing it among the highest-crime cities in the country.
D
PlainCrime safety grade
+42%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
14th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
2,807.8
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Niagara Falls, NY
Position in the state cohort
Niagara Falls reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable New York cities
At 501.1 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Niagara Falls ranks 17 of 326 — above 309 of the 325 other New York cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +729.3% against the cohort median of 60.4. 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
Niagara Falls's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the New York cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Niagara Falls's 501.1 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Utica (527.8), Troy (470.5), Binghamton (532.6), Hempstead Village (458.5). 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 781.5 per 100,000 in 2020 to 501.1 in 2024 (-35.9%). The highest observed value was 854.0 in 2022 and the lowest 501.1 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 15.1% of the 1,565 Part I offenses reported in Niagara Falls for 2024, against a median of 6.8% across comparable New York cities — a gap of 8.4 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 77.9% of reported property offenses in Niagara Falls, against a cohort median of 86.4%. The remainder is burglary (155) and motor vehicle theft (138). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Property counts dominate Niagara Falls'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.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
-27.1%
687.2 → 501.1/100K
Property Crime Rate
-0.2%
2813.6 → 2807.8/100K
Property offenses lead Niagara Falls's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs NY
vs US avg
Property Crime
1,328
2807.8
1661.2
1711
Larceny-Theft
1,035
2188.3
-
-
Burglary
155
327.7
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
138
291.8
-
-
Arson
8
16.9
-
-
Violent Crime
237
501.1
380
352
Aggravated Assault
186
393.3
-
-
Robbery
44
93
-
-
Rape
4
8.5
-
-
Murder
3
6.3
-
-
Niagara Falls Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Niagara Falls property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
2,807.8/100K↓0.2%vs 2023
Niagara Falls violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
501.1/100K↓27.1%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
47,474
781.5
4200.2
2,365
2021
Comparable
47,139
793.4
3006
1,791
2022
Comparable
48,129
854
2962.9
1,837
2023
Comparable
47,732
687.2
2813.6
1,671
2024
Comparable
47,296
501.1
2807.8
1,565
How Niagara Falls sits among NY peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Niagara Falls Police Department NIBRS-participating
Niagara Falls's crime figures on this page originate from Niagara Falls 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 New York
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the New York cities closest to Niagara Falls in population. Their populations run from 41,682 to 50,372, against 47,296 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
These New York cities report the closest violent-crime rates to Niagara Falls's 501.1/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Niagara Falls has a violent crime rate of 501.1 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 2807.8 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Niagara Falls, NY safe? ▼
Niagara Falls receives a safety grade of D (Below Average), with a safety score of 26/100. The violent crime rate is 42% above the national average and 32% above the New York average.
What is the population of Niagara Falls, NY? ▼
The reporting population for Niagara Falls is 47,296 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Niagara Falls? ▼
In 2024, Niagara Falls reported 237 violent crimes and 1,328 property crimes, for a total of 1,565 reported offenses.
How do Niagara Falls's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Niagara Falls recorded about one reported offense per 30 residents and one reported violent offense per 200 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Niagara Falls? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Niagara Falls's violent crime rate decreased by 27.1%, and the property crime rate decreased by 0.2%.
What is the most common crime in Niagara Falls? ▼
The most common crime type in Niagara Falls is larceny-theft, accounting for 66.1% of all reported crimes (1,035 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Niagara Falls 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 Niagara Falls, NY rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.