Sunderland, MA is close to the national middle for violent crime, and earns an A PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 45% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Sunderland, MA shows violent crime at 192.8 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 247.9 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 45% 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
192.8/100K violent
247.9/100K property
-45% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Sunderland, MA
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Sunderland reported 7 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 3,630. 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.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 43.8% of the 16 Part I offenses reported in Sunderland for 2024, against a median of 21.4% across comparable Massachusetts cities — a gap of 22.4 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.
Comparable rate records
Sunderland's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Massachusetts cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Sunderland's 192.8 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are South Hadley (193.3), Westfield (191.4), Avon (187.6), Mashpee (183.5). 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.
Property-offense composition
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 55.6% of reported property offenses in Sunderland, against a cohort median of 78.1%. The remainder is burglary (3) and motor vehicle theft (1). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Position in the state cohort
Sunderland sits mid-pack among comparable Massachusetts cities
At 192.8 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Sunderland ranks 109 of 317 — above 208 of the 316 other Massachusetts cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +34.1% 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 220.9 per 100,000 in 2020 to 192.8 in 2024 (-12.7%). The highest observed value was 275.6 in 2021 and the lowest 109.4 in 2022. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Sunderland's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row keeps violent and property totals in a closer balance. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; incomplete reporters stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
Based on 7 reported violent incidents in a population of 3,630. 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.
Sunderland's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 14.2 Census sq mi, Sunderland logged 0.6 property and 0.5 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Sunderland leans on larceny-theft at 31% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 2,500.
Violent offenses are 44% of the municipal total - a violence-heavy book for a small city.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (14.2 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
-39.8%
411.7 → 247.9/100K
Violent Crime Rate
-12.2%
219.6 → 192.8/100K
Sunderland's 2024 offense mix (violent and property)
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
9
247.9
1711
Larceny-Theft
5
137.7
-
Burglary
3
82.6
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
1
27.5
-
Arson
0
0
-
Violent Crime
7
192.8
352
Aggravated Assault
5
137.7
-
Rape
2
55.1
-
Murder
0
0
-
Robbery
0
0
-
Sunderland Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Sunderland violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
192.8/100K↓12.2%vs 2023
Sunderland property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
247.9/100K↓39.8%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
3,622
220.9
303.7
19
2021
Comparable
3,628
275.6
496.1
28
2022
Comparable
3,655
109.4
711.4
30
2023
Comparable
3,643
219.6
411.7
23
2024
Comparable
3,630
192.8
247.9
16
Sunderland Police Department
Reporting agency for Sunderland NIBRS-participating
Sunderland Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Sunderland's 16 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 Sunderland in population. Their populations run from 3,489 to 3,779, against 3,630 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Sunderland reported 7 violent crimes and 9 property crimes, for a total of 16 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Sunderland?
From 2023 to 2024, Sunderland's violent crime rate decreased by 12.2%, and the property crime rate decreased by 39.8%.
What is the most common crime in Sunderland?
The most common crime type in Sunderland is larceny-theft, accounting for 31.3% of all reported crimes (5 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Sunderland 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 Sunderland, MA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.