Delaware Crime Grades

What is Delaware’s crime safety grade?

Delaware earned an overall safety grade of C (score: 48/100, Average) based on 2024 FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program data, with a statewide violent crime rate of 367.8 per 100,000 and property crime rate of 1772.7 per 100,000. PlainCrime graded 38 Delaware cities with reportable crime data against national benchmarks, producing an A+ through F score for each jurisdiction. Grades weigh violent and property crime rates: cities more than 50% below the national average typically earn A or A+, while cities significantly above average receive D or F ratings.

Across the 38 graded Delaware cities, 4 earned A+, 7 earned A, 6 received B, 4 landed at C, 6 received D, and 11 fell to F in the 2024 scoring. The highest-rated city is South Bethany with a A+ grade (score: 95/100, violent rate 0/100K). The lowest-rated city is Dewey Beach with a F grade (score: 0/100, violent rate 4433.5/100K).

Roughly 29% of graded cities in Delaware achieved an A or A+ rating, while 45% received a D or F. Cities missing from this table either did not submit complete 2024 UCR data, fell below the minimum population threshold for reliable rate calculation, or report through consolidated agencies that aggregate into county or regional totals instead of individual city figures. Grade boundaries use the national violent and property crime rate averages for 2024 as the reference point, so grades are directly comparable between Delaware and other states on the site.

A safety grade condenses several FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) measures into a single letter, ranking each state's violent and property crime rates against the national distribution rather than a fixed cutoff. A high grade therefore means a state compares well to its peers in a given year, not that it is free of crime. Grades move as the underlying rates move and as agency reporting completeness shifts from year to year. Two states with the same letter can have very different profiles: one may carry a higher violent-crime rate offset by low property crime, the other the reverse. Use the grade as a quick orientation, then read the component rates beneath it to see what is actually driving the number for this state.