West Palm Beach, FL has a F safety grade (24/100) with a violent crime rate of 576 per 100,000, 64% above the national average.
FBI UCR 2024 Per-capita rates FBI UCR + NIBRS
West Palm Beach, FL Crime Rate & Safety
Compiled by PlainCrime, Independent crime-data publisher
At 126,427 residents, West Palm Beach is a large city: FBI UCR Table 8 rates (per 100,000) here are read against FL and U.S. averages before the offense-family breakdown.
West Palm Beach, FL carries a PlainCrime F safety grade with violent crime 64% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, West Palm Beach, FL shows violent crime at 575.8 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,138 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 64% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade F from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
F safety grade
575.8/100K violent
2138/100K property
+64% vs U.S.
The verdict
West Palm Beach earns an F safety grade: violent crime runs 64% above the U.S. average, placing it among the highest-crime cities in the country.
F
PlainCrime safety grade
+64%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
11th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
2,138
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for West Palm Beach, FL
Position in the state cohort
West Palm Beach reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Florida cities
At 575.8 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, West Palm Beach ranks 17 of 126 — above 109 of the 125 other Florida cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +198.8% against the cohort median of 192.7. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Comparable rate records
West Palm Beach's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Florida cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to West Palm Beach's 575.8 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Lake Park (580.4), North Miami Beach (582.5), Sarasota (549.4), Palmetto (607.5). 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 761.9 per 100,000 in 2020 to 575.8 in 2024 (-24.4%). The highest observed value was 788.0 in 2022 and the lowest 575.8 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 21.2% of the 3,431 Part I offenses reported in West Palm Beach for 2024, against a median of 13.3% across comparable Florida cities — a gap of 8.0 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 West Palm Beach'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.
On a large city row, these are citywide reported offense totals - not neighbourhood advice. Conditions vary by place and time; reporting rates differ across jurisdictions.
Both rates shifted (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
-18.6%
707.4 → 575.8/100K
Property Crime Rate
-20.3%
2682.2 → 2138/100K
Property offenses lead West Palm Beach's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs FL
Property Crime
2,703
2138
1030
Larceny-Theft
2,278
1801.8
-
Burglary
389
307.7
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
36
28.5
-
Arson
16
12.7
-
Violent Crime
728
575.8
210.3
Aggravated Assault
442
349.6
-
Robbery
201
159
-
Rape
75
59.3
-
Murder
10
7.9
-
West Palm Beach Crime Trend (2020-2024)
West Palm Beach property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
2,138/100K↓20.3%vs 2023
West Palm Beach violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
575.8/100K↓18.6%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
113,268
761.9
3417.6
4,734
2021
Comparable
114,055
781.2
2097.2
3,283
2022
Comparable
117,393
788
2628.8
4,011
2023
Comparable
122,697
707.4
2682.2
4,159
2024
Comparable
126,427
575.8
2138
3,431
How West Palm Beach sits among FL peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
West Palm Beach Police Department NIBRS-participating
West Palm Beach's crime figures on this page originate from West Palm Beach 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 Florida
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Florida cities closest to West Palm Beach in population. Their populations run from 81,967 to 147,022, against 126,427 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
These Florida cities report the closest violent-crime rates to West Palm Beach's 575.8/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
West Palm Beach has a violent crime rate of 575.8 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 2138 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is West Palm Beach, FL safe? ▼
West Palm Beach receives a safety grade of F (High Risk), with a safety score of 24/100. The violent crime rate is 64% above the national average and 174% above the Florida average.
What is the population of West Palm Beach, FL? ▼
The reporting population for West Palm Beach is 126,427 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in West Palm Beach? ▼
In 2024, West Palm Beach reported 728 violent crimes and 2,703 property crimes, for a total of 3,431 reported offenses.
How do West Palm Beach's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, West Palm Beach recorded about one reported offense per 37 residents and one reported violent offense per 174 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in West Palm Beach? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, West Palm Beach's violent crime rate decreased by 18.6%, and the property crime rate decreased by 20.3%.
What is the most common crime in West Palm Beach? ▼
The most common crime type in West Palm Beach is larceny-theft, accounting for 66.4% of all reported crimes (2,278 incidents in 2024).
Large-city read: West Palm Beach's rates come from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, CIUS Table 8, vintage 2024.
Incomplete reporters stay out of rate rankings. Cross-check population with Census ACS; state UCR programs for statewide context. Primary verify links: FBI.gov UCR, Census QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (large city): informational crime rates only - not legal, insurance, or personal-safety advice. Source: FBI UCR. Ask a qualified professional before acting.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 West Palm Beach, FL rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.