Princeton, KY carries a PlainCrime A safety grade with violent crime 95% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Princeton, KY shows violent crime at 16.2 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,717.2 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 95% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade A from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
A safety grade
16.2/100K violent
1717.2/100K property
-95% vs U.S.
The verdict
Princeton earns an A safety grade: violent crime runs 95% below the U.S. average, placing it among the safest cities in the country.
A
PlainCrime safety grade
-95%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
98th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
1,717.2
property crimes per 100K
Based on 1 reported violent incidents in a population of 6,173. 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.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Princeton, KY
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Princeton reported 1 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 6,173. 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 197.0 per 100,000 in 2020 to 16.2 in 2024 (-91.8%). The highest observed value was 197.0 in 2020 and the lowest 16.2 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Comparable rate records
Princeton's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Kentucky cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Princeton's 16.2 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Wilmore (16.3), Independence (26.9), Vine Grove (28.5), Stanton (31.6). 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.
Offense mix
The reported mix leans further toward property offenses than the state cohort
Violent offenses are 0.9% of the 107 Part I offenses reported in Princeton for 2024, against a median of 8.1% across comparable Kentucky cities — a gap of 7.1 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.
Position in the state cohort
Princeton sits mid-pack among comparable Kentucky cities
At 16.2 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Princeton ranks 148 of 231 — above 83 of the 230 other Kentucky cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -75.8% against the cohort median of 66.9. 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 Princeton'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 1 reported violent incidents in a population of 6,173. 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.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
-87.5%
129.3 → 16.2/100K
Property Crime Rate
+8.4%
1584.2 → 1717.2/100K
Property offenses lead Princeton's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs KY
Property Crime
106
1717.2
1397.1
Larceny-Theft
74
1198.8
-
Burglary
21
340.2
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
11
178.2
-
Arson
2
32.4
-
Violent Crime
1
16.2
225.5
Robbery
1
16.2
-
Murder
0
0
-
Rape
0
0
-
Aggravated Assault
0
0
-
Princeton Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Princeton property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
1,717.2/100K↑8.4%vs 2023
Princeton violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
16.2/100K↓87.5%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
6,091
197
2232.8
148
2021
Comparable
6,036
165.7
2004.6
131
2022
Comparable
6,191
177.7
1534.5
106
2023
Comparable
6,186
129.3
1584.2
106
2024
Comparable
6,173
16.2
1717.2
107
How Princeton sits among KY peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Princeton Police Department NIBRS-participating
Princeton's crime figures on this page originate from Princeton 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 Kentucky
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Kentucky cities closest to Princeton in population. Their populations run from 5,808 to 6,595, against 6,173 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
These Kentucky cities report the closest violent-crime rates to Princeton's 16.2/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Princeton has a violent crime rate of 16.2 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 1717.2 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Princeton, KY safe? ▼
Princeton receives a safety grade of A (Safe), with a safety score of 83/100. The violent crime rate is 95% below the national average and 93% below the Kentucky average.
What is the population of Princeton, KY? ▼
The reporting population for Princeton is 6,173 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Princeton? ▼
In 2024, Princeton reported 1 violent crimes and 106 property crimes, for a total of 107 reported offenses.
How do Princeton's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Princeton recorded about one reported offense per 58 residents and one reported violent offense per 6173 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Princeton? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Princeton's violent crime rate decreased by 87.5%, and the property crime rate increased by 8.4%.
What is the most common crime in Princeton? ▼
The most common crime type in Princeton is larceny-theft, accounting for 69.2% of all reported crimes (74 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Princeton 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 Princeton, KY rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.