Portage, IN carries a PlainCrime B safety grade with violent crime 33% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Portage, IN shows violent crime at 235.1 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,108.5 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 33% 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
235.1/100K violent
1108.5/100K property
-33% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Portage, IN
Comparable rate records
Portage's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Indiana cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Portage's 235.1 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are New Palestine (234.4), Mishawaka (236.3), Clarksville (239.0), Linton (230.2). 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
Portage sits mid-pack among comparable Indiana cities
At 235.1 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Portage ranks 40 of 113 — above 73 of the 112 other Indiana cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +51.4% against the cohort median of 155.3. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 17.5% of the 520 Part I offenses reported in Portage for 2024, against a median of 13.5% across comparable Indiana cities — a gap of 4.0 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 221.6 per 100,000 in 2020 to 235.1 in 2024 (+6.1%). The highest observed value was 301.4 in 2021 and the lowest 158.7 in 2022. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Portage'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.
Portage's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 25.6 Census sq mi, Portage logged 16.7 property and 3.5 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Portage's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (73% of 520 offenses; mix index 5,514).
Violent offenses are 18% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (25.6 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
-8.5%
257 → 235.1/100K
Property Crime Rate
-2.1%
1132 → 1108.5/100K
Property offenses lead Portage's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
429
1108.5
1711
Larceny-Theft
378
976.7
-
Burglary
29
74.9
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
22
56.8
-
Arson
3
7.8
-
Violent Crime
91
235.1
352
Aggravated Assault
68
175.7
-
Rape
15
38.8
-
Murder
4
10.3
-
Robbery
4
10.3
-
Portage Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Portage 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
Portage Police Department
Reporting agency for Portage NIBRS-participating
Portage Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Portage's 520 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 Indiana
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Indiana cities closest to Portage in population. Their populations run from 33,121 to 44,906, against 38,700 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Portage reported 91 violent crimes and 429 property crimes, for a total of 520 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Portage?
From 2023 to 2024, Portage's violent crime rate decreased by 8.5%, and the property crime rate decreased by 2.1%.
What is the most common crime in Portage?
The most common crime type in Portage is larceny-theft, accounting for 72.7% of all reported crimes (378 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Portage 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 Portage, IN rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.