Palm Beach, FL has a B safety grade (72/100) with a violent crime rate of 173 per 100,000, 51% below the national average.

FBI UCR 2024 · per-capita rates · small city

Palm Beach, FL Crime Rate & Safety

Palm Beach is a small municipal reporter (9,262 on the UCR row). Per-100,000 violent and property rates are shown with FL and U.S. context.

Data updated 2026-09-05

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B
Safety grade
1,274
Property / 100K
172.7
Violent / 100K
9K
Population

Palm Beach, FL is close to the national middle for violent crime, and earns a B PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 51% below the U.S. average

According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Palm Beach, FL shows violent crime at 172.7 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,274 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 51% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade B from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.

  • B safety grade
  • 172.7/100K violent
  • 1274/100K property
  • -51% vs U.S.

What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Palm Beach, FL

2020–2024 direction

The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher

Across 4 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 33.7 per 100,000 in 2020 to 172.7 in 2024 (+412.0%). The highest observed value was 172.7 in 2024 and the lowest 33.7 in 2020. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.

Small-count caution

The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable

Palm Beach reported 16 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 9,262. At this volume one additional or one fewer report moves the per-100,000 rate noticeably, so the figure is better read as a data point than as a precise measurement, and year-to-year swings here are expected.

Comparable rate records

Palm Beach's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Florida cohort

The nearest comparable 2024 records to Palm Beach's 172.7 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Boca Raton (171.0), Belleair Bluffs (175.7), Aventura (164.4), Treasure Island (184.5). 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.

Position in the state cohort

Palm Beach sits mid-pack among comparable Florida cities

At 172.7 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Palm Beach ranks 69 of 126 — above 57 of the 125 other Florida cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -15.5% against the cohort median of 204.3. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.

Property counts dominate Palm Beach'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.

Based on 16 reported violent incidents in a population of 9,262. At this volume, one additional or one fewer report can shift the rate and letter grade noticeably; small-city crime counts are inherently more volatile year to year than large-city counts, so treat this grade as a data point, not a precise ranking.

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.

Palm Beach's 2024 municipal footprint

Across 3.8 Census sq mi, Palm Beach logged 31.1 property and 4.2 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.

Palm Beach's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (67% of 134 offenses; mix index 4,965).

Violent offenses are only 12% of the municipal total - a property-led book.

Palm Beach offense mix (2024)

Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (3.8 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
+127.8%
75.8 → 172.7/100K
Property Crime Rate
-17.2%
1538.5 → 1274/100K

Property offenses lead Palm Beach's 2024 record

Offense Count Rate /100K
Property Crime 118 1274
Larceny-Theft 90 971.7
Burglary 26 280.7
Motor Vehicle Theft 2 21.6
Arson 0 0
Violent Crime 16 172.7
Aggravated Assault 10 108
Rape 6 64.8
Murder 0 0
Robbery 0 0

Palm Beach Crime Trend (2020-2024)

The chart omits 2021 rather than drawing an unsupported zero or partial-coverage dip. The table preserves the year and marks the gap.

Palm Beach property crime rate trend

Lead series · fell across 4 comparable years · FBI UCR

Property crime rate (2024)
1,274/100K 17.2% vs 2023
1,1001,2001,3001,4001,5001,600 2020202220232024 1,274

Palm Beach violent crime rate trend

Secondary series · rose · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR

Violent crime rate (2024)
172.7/100K 127.8% vs 2023
050100150200 2020202220232024 173
Year Coverage Population Violent Rate Property Rate
2020 Comparable 8,891 33.7 1439.7
2021 Insufficient reporting 8,905 - -
2022 Comparable 9,222 108.4 1149.4
2023 Comparable 9,230 75.8 1538.5
2024 Comparable 9,262 172.7 1274

How Palm Beach sits among FL peers

POP-SMALLCOHORT-SIZEVIOL-LOWPROP-LOWQUAD-LLGRADE-BNIBRSUCR-2024
Palm Beach vs. similar-size FL cities, violent vs. property crime. X axis violent crime per 100K, Y axis property crime per 100K, split by the national averages. 9 cities; the anchor is ringed. Palm Beach vs. similar-size FL cities, violent vs. property crime 43 869 Violent crime per 100K → 469 7,414 Property crime per 100K → Palm Beach SAFEST HIGHEST CRIME PROPERTY-HEAVY VIOLENT-HEAVY Safety grade A / B C D / F
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Read the chart as a list
  • Palm Beach: 173 violent, 1274 property per 100,000 (grade B)
  • Indian Harbour Beach: 144 violent, 521 property per 100,000 (grade A)
  • Lake Park: 580 violent, 6865 property per 100,000 (grade F)
  • St. Pete Beach: 311 violent, 2130 property per 100,000 (grade C)
  • Brooksville: 426 violent, 2013 property per 100,000 (grade C)
  • Springfield: 804 violent, 2173 property per 100,000 (grade F)
  • Lighthouse Point: 48 violent, 1379 property per 100,000 (grade A)
  • Arcadia: 513 violent, 1365 property per 100,000 (grade D)
  • Palatka: 268 violent, 3735 property per 100,000 (grade C)

Palm Beach Police Department

Reporting agency for Palm Beach NIBRS-participating

Palm Beach Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Palm Beach's 134 reported offenses (4-year span 2020-2024, with internal gaps).

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 Florida

Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Florida cities closest to Palm Beach in population. Their populations run from 7,986 to 10,816, against 9,262 here. Or use our side-by-side compare tool to benchmark two cities directly.

Palm Beach's closest FL violent-rate matches

Palm Beach sits at 172.7/100K violent (grade B); the Florida cities below are the nearest matches after size peers are removed.

More about Palm Beach's 2024 record

How many crimes were reported in Palm Beach?

In 2024, Palm Beach reported 16 violent crimes and 118 property crimes, for a total of 134 reported offenses.

Is crime increasing or decreasing in Palm Beach?

From 2023 to 2024, Palm Beach's violent crime rate increased by 127.8%, and the property crime rate decreased by 17.2%.

What is the most common crime in Palm Beach?

The most common crime type in Palm Beach is larceny-theft, accounting for 67.2% of all reported crimes (90 incidents in 2024).

Small-city read: Palm Beach 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.

Federal sources for this small-city row
Cite, share, or save this city record

Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Palm Beach, FL rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.

Bulk download: city crime dataset (CSV/JSON)

Put this to use

Put the Palm Beach, FL FBI UCR record to work: compare peers, open the state atlas, or look up another city.

A citywide UCR rate is a starting point, not a neighbourhood verdict: read the full profile and the year coverage notes before drawing conclusions.

Every figure on PlainCrime is rendered directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) source data, no number is typed in by an editor. Palm Beach is scored as a small-city UCR reporter (9,262 on the row). See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.