Van Buren, AR carries a PlainCrime D safety grade with violent crime 35% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Van Buren, AR shows violent crime at 474.5 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,045.3 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 35% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade D from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
D safety grade
474.5/100K violent
2045.3/100K property
+35% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Van Buren, AR
Comparable rate records
Van Buren's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Arkansas cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Van Buren's 474.5 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Mountain View (474.1), Ravenden (473.9), Booneville (470.6), Clarksville (464.9). 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
Van Buren sits mid-pack among comparable Arkansas cities
At 474.5 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Van Buren ranks 63 of 204 — above 141 of the 203 other Arkansas cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +55.0% against the cohort median of 306.2. 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 542.5 per 100,000 in 2020 to 474.5 in 2024 (-12.5%). The highest observed value was 542.5 in 2020 and the lowest 349.8 in 2023. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property-offense composition
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 66.6% of reported property offenses in Van Buren, against a cohort median of 74.8%. The remainder is burglary (142) and motor vehicle theft (25). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Property counts dominate Van Buren'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.
Van Buren's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 15.5 Census sq mi, Van Buren logged 32.3 property and 7.5 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Van Buren leans on larceny-theft at 54% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 3,738.
Violent offenses are 19% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (15.5 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
+35.6%
349.8 → 474.5/100K
Property Crime Rate
-28.8%
2873 → 2045.3/100K
Property offenses lead Van Buren's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
500
2045.3
1711
Larceny-Theft
333
1362.2
-
Burglary
142
580.9
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
25
102.3
-
Arson
1
4.1
-
Violent Crime
116
474.5
352
Aggravated Assault
100
409.1
-
Rape
12
49.1
-
Robbery
4
16.4
-
Murder
0
0
-
Van Buren Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Van Buren 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
Van Buren Police Department
Reporting agency for Van Buren NIBRS-participating
Van Buren Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Van Buren's 616 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 Arkansas
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Arkansas cities closest to Van Buren in population. Their populations run from 19,985 to 29,173, against 24,446 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Van Buren at 474.5/100K violent and 2,045.3/100K property - matched below outside Arkansas (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Van Buren reported 116 violent crimes and 500 property crimes, for a total of 616 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Van Buren?
From 2023 to 2024, Van Buren's violent crime rate increased by 35.6%, and the property crime rate decreased by 28.8%.
What is the most common crime in Van Buren?
The most common crime type in Van Buren is larceny-theft, accounting for 54.1% of all reported crimes (333 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Van Buren 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 Van Buren, AR rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.