Putnam, CT carries a PlainCrime A safety grade with violent crime 67% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Putnam, CT shows violent crime at 117.7 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 791.9 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 67% 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
117.7/100K violent
791.9/100K property
-67% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Putnam, CT
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Putnam reported 11 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 9,345. 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
Putnam's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Connecticut cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Putnam's 117.7 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Milford (116.8), Bloomfield (108.9), Meriden (128.5), West Haven (104.4). 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 224.1 per 100,000 in 2020 to 117.7 in 2024 (-47.5%). The highest observed value was 245.9 in 2021 and the lowest 96.4 in 2023. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
Putnam reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Connecticut cities
At 117.7 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Putnam ranks 17 of 94 — above 77 of the 93 other Connecticut cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +102.5% against the cohort median of 58.1. 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 12.9% of the 85 Part I offenses reported in Putnam for 2024, against a median of 4.7% across comparable Connecticut cities — a gap of 8.3 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.
Property counts dominate Putnam'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 11 reported violent incidents in a population of 9,345. 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.
Putnam's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 3.9 Census sq mi, Putnam logged 19 property and 2.8 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Putnam's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (62% of 85 offenses; mix index 4,287).
Violent offenses are only 13% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (3.9 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
-30.2%
1135 → 791.9/100K
Violent Crime Rate
+22.1%
96.4 → 117.7/100K
Property offenses lead Putnam's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
74
791.9
1711
Larceny-Theft
53
567.1
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
13
139.1
-
Burglary
8
85.6
-
Arson
2
21.4
-
Violent Crime
11
117.7
352
Rape
5
53.5
-
Aggravated Assault
5
53.5
-
Robbery
1
10.7
-
Murder
0
0
-
Putnam Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Putnam 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
Putnam Police Department
Reporting agency for Putnam NIBRS-participating
Putnam Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Putnam's 85 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 Connecticut
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Connecticut cities closest to Putnam in population. Their populations run from 8,716 to 10,606, against 9,345 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Putnam reported 11 violent crimes and 74 property crimes, for a total of 85 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Putnam?
From 2023 to 2024, Putnam's violent crime rate increased by 22.1%, and the property crime rate decreased by 30.2%.
What is the most common crime in Putnam?
The most common crime type in Putnam is larceny-theft, accounting for 62.4% of all reported crimes (53 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Putnam 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 Putnam, CT rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.