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.
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
vs US avg
Property Crime
118
1274
1711
Larceny-Theft
90
971.7
-
Burglary
26
280.7
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
2
21.6
-
Arson
0
0
-
Violent Crime
16
172.7
352
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
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averagesRead 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.
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.
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.