Salisbury, MA is close to the national middle for violent crime, and earns an A PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 49% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Salisbury, MA shows violent crime at 179.9 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 561 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 49% 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
179.9/100K violent
561/100K property
-49% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Salisbury, MA
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Salisbury reported 17 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 9,448. 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
Salisbury's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Massachusetts cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Salisbury's 179.9 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Medford (179.5), Dighton (179.4), Russell (181.1), Lakeville (178.2). 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
Salisbury sits mid-pack among comparable Massachusetts cities
At 179.9 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Salisbury ranks 114 of 317 — above 203 of the 316 other Massachusetts cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +25.1% against the cohort median of 143.8. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Property-offense composition
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 62.3% of reported property offenses in Salisbury, against a cohort median of 78.1%. The remainder is burglary (13) and motor vehicle theft (7). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 207.7 per 100,000 in 2020 to 179.9 in 2024 (-13.4%). The highest observed value was 281.4 in 2022 and the lowest 179.9 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Salisbury'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 17 reported violent incidents in a population of 9,448. 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.
Salisbury's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 5.9 Census sq mi, Salisbury logged 9 property and 2.9 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Salisbury leans on larceny-theft at 47% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 2,988.
Violent offenses are 24% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (5.9 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
-27.2%
771.1 → 561/100K
Violent Crime Rate
-21.1%
228.1 → 179.9/100K
Property offenses lead Salisbury's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
53
561
1711
Larceny-Theft
33
349.3
-
Burglary
13
137.6
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
7
74.1
-
Arson
0
0
-
Violent Crime
17
179.9
352
Aggravated Assault
11
116.4
-
Rape
6
63.5
-
Murder
0
0
-
Robbery
0
0
-
Salisbury Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Salisbury 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 averagesRead the chart as a list
Salisbury: 180 violent, 561 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Freetown: 327 violent, 453 property per 100,000 (grade B)
Douglas: 168 violent, 211 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Blackstone: 117 violent, 170 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Southwick: 75 violent, 384 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Millis: 11 violent, 85 property per 100,000 (grade A+)
Sutton: 124 violent, 342 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Rutland: 103 violent, 216 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Townsend: 109 violent, 482 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Salisbury Police Department
Reporting agency for Salisbury NIBRS-participating
Salisbury Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Salisbury's 70 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 Massachusetts
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Massachusetts cities closest to Salisbury in population. Their populations run from 9,139 to 9,721, against 9,448 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Salisbury reported 17 violent crimes and 53 property crimes, for a total of 70 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Salisbury?
From 2023 to 2024, Salisbury's violent crime rate decreased by 21.1%, and the property crime rate decreased by 27.2%.
What is the most common crime in Salisbury?
The most common crime type in Salisbury is larceny-theft, accounting for 47.1% of all reported crimes (33 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Salisbury 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 Salisbury, MA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.