Olean, NY carries a PlainCrime D safety grade with violent crime 2% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Olean, NY shows violent crime at 346.5 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 3,789.4 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 2% below 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
346.5/100K violent
3789.4/100K property
-2% vs U.S.
The verdict
Olean earns a D safety grade: violent crime runs 2% below the U.S. average, placing it higher-crime than most U.S. cities.
D
PlainCrime safety grade
-2%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
25th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
3,789.4
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Olean, NY
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 187.5 per 100,000 in 2020 to 346.5 in 2024 (+84.8%). The highest observed value was 424.3 in 2022 and the lowest 187.5 in 2020. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
Olean reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable New York cities
At 346.5 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Olean ranks 30 of 326 — above 296 of the 325 other New York cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +473.5% 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
Olean's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the New York cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Olean's 346.5 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Kingston (350.2), Oswego City (340.0), Watervliet (356.2), Spring Valley Village (360.9). 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.
Property counts dominate Olean'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.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
+10.9%
3417.8 → 3789.4/100K
Violent Crime Rate
+3.2%
335.9 → 346.5/100K
Property offenses lead Olean's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs NY
vs US avg
Property Crime
514
3789.4
1661.2
1711
Larceny-Theft
456
3361.8
-
-
Burglary
46
339.1
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
12
88.5
-
-
Arson
2
14.7
-
-
Violent Crime
47
346.5
380
352
Aggravated Assault
31
228.5
-
-
Robbery
14
103.2
-
-
Rape
2
14.7
-
-
Murder
0
0
-
-
Olean Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Olean property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
3,789.4/100K↑10.9%vs 2023
Olean violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · rose · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
346.5/100K↑3.2%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
13,334
187.5
1822.4
268
2021
Comparable
13,272
361.7
2787.8
418
2022
Comparable
13,671
424.3
3189.2
494
2023
Comparable
13,693
335.9
3417.8
514
2024
Comparable
13,564
346.5
3789.4
561
How Olean sits among NY peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Olean Police Department NIBRS-participating
Olean's crime figures on this page originate from Olean 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 Olean in population. Their populations run from 12,729 to 14,416, against 13,564 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 Olean's 346.5/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Olean has a violent crime rate of 346.5 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 3789.4 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Olean, NY safe? ▼
Olean receives a safety grade of D (Below Average), with a safety score of 36/100. The violent crime rate is 2% below the national average and 9% below the New York average.
What is the population of Olean, NY? ▼
The reporting population for Olean is 13,564 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Olean? ▼
In 2024, Olean reported 47 violent crimes and 514 property crimes, for a total of 561 reported offenses.
How do Olean's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Olean recorded about one reported offense per 24 residents and one reported violent offense per 289 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Olean? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Olean's violent crime rate increased by 3.2%, and the property crime rate increased by 10.9%.
What is the most common crime in Olean? ▼
The most common crime type in Olean is larceny-theft, accounting for 81.3% of all reported crimes (456 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Olean 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.