Crime rates for New Bedford, MA

The crime rate in New Bedford is considerably higher than the national average across all communities in America from the largest to the smallest, although at 45 crimes per one thousand residents, it is not among the communities with the very highest crime rate. The chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime in New Bedford is 1 in 22. Based on FBI crime data, New Bedford is not one of the safest communities in America. Relative to Massachusetts, New Bedford has a crime rate that is higher than 90% of the state's cities and towns of all sizes.

How does the crime rate in New Bedford compare to similar sized city across America? When NeighborhoodScout compared New Bedford with other communities its size, we found that the crime rate was near the average for all other communities of similar size. So, whether New Bedford's crime rate is high or low compared to all places in the US, when we control for population size and compare it to places that are similar in size, it is near the middle of the pack in crime rate – not much more or less dangerous, and about what we would expect from the statistics.

The crime data that NeighborhoodScout used for this analysis are the seven offenses from the uniform crime reports, collected by the FBI from 17,000 local law enforcement agencies, and include both violent and property crimes, combined.

Now let us turn to take a look at how New Bedford does for violent crimes specifically, and then how it does for property crimes. This is important because the overall crime rate can be further illuminated by understanding if violent crime or property crimes (or both) are the major contributors to the general rate of crime in New Bedford.

For New Bedford, we found that the violent crime rate is one of the highest in the nation, across communities of all sizes (both large and small). Violent offenses tracked included forcible rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. According to NeighborhoodScout's analysis of FBI reported crime data, your chance of becoming a victim of one of these crimes in New Bedford is one in 96.

NeighborhoodScout's analysis also reveals that New Bedford's rate for property crime is 35 per one thousand population. This makes New Bedford a place where there is an above average chance of becoming a victim of a property crime, when compared to all other communities in America of all population sizes. Property crimes are motor vehicle theft, arson, larceny, and burglary. Your chance of becoming a victim of any of these crimes in New Bedford is one in 29.