North Adams, MA is among the highest-crime cities in the country, and earns an F PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 239% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, North Adams, MA shows violent crime at 1,194 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,557.5 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 239% 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
1194/100K violent
2557.5/100K property
+239% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for North Adams, MA
Position in the state cohort
North Adams reported the highest violent-crime rate among comparable Massachusetts cities
At 1194.0 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, North Adams ranks 1 of 317 — above 316 of the 316 other Massachusetts cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +730.3% 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 760.7 per 100,000 in 2020 to 1194.0 in 2024 (+57.0%). The highest observed value was 1194.0 in 2024 and the lowest 760.7 in 2020. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Comparable rate records
North Adams's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Massachusetts cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to North Adams's 1194.0 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Holyoke (1041.0), Chelsea (978.9), Springfield (891.4), Fall River (742.9). 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 31.8% of the 465 Part I offenses reported in North Adams for 2024, against a median of 21.4% across comparable Massachusetts cities — a gap of 10.5 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 counts dominate North Adams'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.
North Adams's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 20.3 Census sq mi, North Adams logged 15.6 property and 7.3 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
North Adams's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (58% of 465 offenses; mix index 4,288).
Violent offenses are 32% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (20.3 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
+10.7%
1078.7 → 1194/100K
Property Crime Rate
-0.1%
2558.9 → 2557.5/100K
Property offenses lead North Adams's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs MA
Property Crime
317
2557.5
1101.2
Larceny-Theft
271
2186.4
-
Burglary
41
330.8
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
5
40.3
-
Arson
4
32.3
-
Violent Crime
148
1194
308.8
Aggravated Assault
132
1064.9
-
Robbery
9
72.6
-
Rape
7
56.5
-
Murder
0
0
-
North Adams Crime Trend (2020-2024)
North Adams 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 averagesRead the chart as a list
North Adams: 1194 violent, 2558 property per 100,000 (grade F)
Lakeville: 178 violent, 664 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Palmer: 375 violent, 574 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Athol: 452 violent, 732 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Spencer: 82 violent, 280 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Lunenburg: 108 violent, 1034 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Tyngsboro: 110 violent, 557 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Dudley: 141 violent, 149 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Weston: 58 violent, 357 property per 100,000 (grade A+)
North Adams Police Department
Reporting agency for North Adams NIBRS-participating
North Adams Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind North Adams's 465 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 North Adams in population. Their populations run from 12,041 to 12,737, against 12,395 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
North Adams at 1,194/100K violent and 2,557.5/100K property - matched below outside Massachusetts (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, North Adams reported 148 violent crimes and 317 property crimes, for a total of 465 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in North Adams?
From 2023 to 2024, North Adams's violent crime rate increased by 10.7%, and the property crime rate decreased by 0.1%.
What is the most common crime in North Adams?
The most common crime type in North Adams is larceny-theft, accounting for 58.3% of all reported crimes (271 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: North Adams 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 North Adams, MA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.