Northampton, MA is among the highest-crime cities in the country, and earns a C PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 26% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Northampton, MA shows violent crime at 445.1 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,272.1 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 26% 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
445.1/100K violent
1272.1/100K property
+26% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Northampton, MA
Position in the state cohort
Northampton reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Massachusetts cities
At 445.1 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Northampton ranks 22 of 317 — above 295 of the 316 other Massachusetts cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +209.5% 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.
Comparable rate records
Northampton's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Massachusetts cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Northampton's 445.1 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Revere (444.8), Taunton (447.7), Lawrence (439.7), Gill (450.7). 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 higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 323.6 per 100,000 in 2020 to 445.1 in 2024 (+37.5%). The highest observed value was 445.1 in 2024 and the lowest 323.6 in 2020. 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 25.9% of the 517 Part I offenses reported in Northampton for 2024, against a median of 21.4% across comparable Massachusetts cities — a gap of 4.5 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 Northampton'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.
Northampton's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 34.2 Census sq mi, Northampton logged 11.2 property and 3.9 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Northampton's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (62% of 517 offenses; mix index 4,441).
Violent offenses are 26% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (34.2 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
+23.1%
361.6 → 445.1/100K
Property Crime Rate
+15.9%
1097.9 → 1272.1/100K
Property offenses lead Northampton's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
383
1272.1
1711
Larceny-Theft
322
1069.5
-
Burglary
49
162.7
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
12
39.9
-
Arson
1
3.3
-
Violent Crime
134
445.1
352
Aggravated Assault
110
365.4
-
Rape
19
63.1
-
Robbery
4
13.3
-
Murder
1
3.3
-
Northampton Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Northampton 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
Northampton Police Department
Reporting agency for Northampton NIBRS-participating
Northampton Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Northampton's 517 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 Northampton in population. Their populations run from 28,898 to 30,799, against 30,108 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Northampton reported 134 violent crimes and 383 property crimes, for a total of 517 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Northampton?
From 2023 to 2024, Northampton's violent crime rate increased by 23.1%, and the property crime rate increased by 15.9%.
What is the most common crime in Northampton?
The most common crime type in Northampton is larceny-theft, accounting for 62.3% of all reported crimes (322 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Northampton 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 Northampton, MA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.