The Safest and Most Dangerous Cities in Rhode Island

When you think of Rhode Island, what comes to mind? Probably its small size. If you’re interested in art, you may think of the Rhode Island School of Design. Perhaps the many beaches that draw locals and tourists alike during warm weather come to mind.

But is Rhode Island a safe place to live? You may wonder about places you’ve seen in crime reports or on social media. Do places like Woonsocket, Central Falls, or Pawtucket have high crime rates with their tightly packed houses, old mill buildings, and blue-collar industries?

Although these cities do have higher crime rates compared to other parts of Rhode Island, they are still relatively in line with national averages, as you’ll see. Out of all states, Rhode Island has the fourth-lowest rate of violent crime and the fifth-lowest rate of property crime, making it among America's safest places to live.

Rhode Island Cities With the Lowest Violent Crime Rates

Located by Narragansett Bay on the eastern edge of the state, Barrington has Rhode Island's lowest violent crime rate, at 12 incidents per 100,000 residents per year. This puts Barrington well below the national average of 364 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, indicating it’s a remarkably safe community.¹

Although it’s not a rural settlement, Barrington has a relatively low population density, which typically correlates with lower crime rates. It has schools with higher than average test scores, and a highly educated population.² Ninety-eight percent of adults have a high school diploma, and 72 percent have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher.³

Residents of Barrington also earn nearly twice the state average, with a median household income of around $150,000 per year. Low population density, good schools, and high income are factors commonly associated with low crime rates, and Barrington has all three. Woodsy West Greenwich and the peninsular town of Bristol follow with comparable numbers as the second and third least violent cities in Rhode Island.

Rhode Island cities with the highest and lowest crime rates

(per 100,000 people)

Cities with the highest property crime rates
Providence	1,906
Pawtucket	1,678
Woonsocket	1,580

Cities with the highest violent crime rates
Woonsocket	433
Central Falls	426
Providence	310

Cities with the lowest property crime rates
Scituate	182
Foster	223
Burrillville	249

Cities with the lowest violent crime rates
Barrington	12
West Greenwich	15
Bristol	18

Note: Excluding cities with crime rates of zero. Source: 2023 FBI Data

Rhode Island Cities With the Highest Violent Crime Rates

Standing at the state's northern edge, Woonsocket has the unwanted distinction of having Rhode Island’s highest violent crime rate, 433 incidents per 100,000 residents per year.

Once a bustling mill town along the Blackstone River Valley, Woonsocket has experienced decades of deindustrialization, which has resulted in economic decline. The poverty rate is around 20 percent (the national average is about 15 percent) while the median household income is about $58,000 per year, well below the state average of $81,000.⁴

Population density is often connected with crime rates, and Woonsocket is the fourth most densely populated city in Rhode Island.⁵ Central Falls is among the state’s most densely populated cities and has Rhode Island’s second-highest rate of violent crime. The capital city of Providence comes in third for violent crime.

Rhode Island Cities With the Lowest Property Crime Rates

When it comes to property crime, Scituate has the state’s lowest numbers, at 182 incidents per 100,000 residents per year. Scituate is located in the heart of the state, with just about 10,000 residents. It’s surrounded by forests and separated from the urban areas to the east by the Scituate Reservoir. Scituate is not known for tourist attractions and is away from the main traffic artery of Interstate 95. It’s also home to a police pistol range.

The city of Foster to the west and Burrillville to the north have the second- and third-lowest levels of property crime. They, too, have relatively small populations away from the state’s urban centers.

Rhode Island Cities With High Property Crime Rates

Providence is also first in the state in terms of property crime, at 1,906 incidents per 100,000 residents per year. Nearby Pawtucket follows closely at 1,678, while Woonsocket makes its second appearance on the high crime list at 1,580.

Larceny-theft is by far the most common type of property crime in Rhode Island, at 862 incidents per 100,000 residents per year. This is still around 36 percent below the national average. Vehicle theft is the second most common type of property crime.

Providence is the state’s largest urban center by far and attracts many tourists each year, so it’s not surprising that it also has the highest level of property theft. Pawtucket and Woonsocket are both relatively dense urban centers with a rocky economic history of deindustrialization, which makes their presence on this list more understandable.

How Does the Crime Rate in Rhode Island Compare to Other States?

As mentioned earlier, Rhode Island is among the safest states in the nation, with the fourth-lowest rate of violent crime, and the fifth-lowest rate of property crime. To help put that in perspective, Indiana is 26th in the country for violent crime, and this “average” state number is 332 incidents per 100,000 residents per year. Meanwhile, the state with the highest violent crime rate is New Mexico, at 749 per 100,000.⁷ For Rhode Island, it is 168 incidents per 100,000 residents per year. That means the violent crime rate is 54 percent below the national average.

Violent crime rates

(per 100,000 residents)

Category	Rhode Island	National
Murder	2.6	5.7
Aggravated assault	106.6	263.7
Robbery	22.0	65.4
Rape	36.7	38.0

Property crime is also lower in Rhode Island than in many other states, at 42 percent below the national average. Crimes such as burglary, vehicle theft, robbery, and aggravated assault are all less than half of the national average.

Property crime rates

(per 100,000 residents)

Category	Rhode Island	National
Burglary	118.3	250.7
Larceny	862.4	1,343.9
Vehicle theft	140.2	317.2

Crime rates in Rhode Island are also trending down. Property crime has decreased by 12.8 percent year over year, while violent crime had a year-over-year decrease of 2.6 percent. This puts the state in line with a national trend of decreasing violent crime.^8,⁹

Rape, however, is only 3.4 percent below the national average, standing out among the crime statistics because it is substantially closer to the national average.¹⁰ Some possible reasons for this may include the relatively high number of college and university students in the state and an increase in the frequency of reporting in general.

Why is the Rhode Island Crime Rate Comparatively Low?

Several factors may account for Rhode Island’s relatively low crime rates. It’s located between two other states with lower-than-average crime rates — Connecticut to the west, and Massachusetts to its north and east, while the south faces the Atlantic Ocean.

Rhode Island’s small size and the absence of difficult terrain like large deserts or mountain ranges makes it easier for police to respond quickly in any area of the state. It’s typical for dense urban populations across all states to have higher crime rates than rural populations. This is the case for Rhode Island, too, as all of the highest crime cities are more densely populated than the low crime areas.

However, even Rhode Island’s most densely packed neighborhoods are still relatively small compared to the major cities of other states. Providence is the state’s most populous city, with a population of around 190,000 residents. While this is a large population for Rhode Island, to put it in perspective, Boston is roughly three times as large, and New York City has about 44 times more people!

The smaller overall population of Rhode Island cities means that even in areas with higher crime rates, the actual number of offenses is relatively low. For example, Woonsocket has a violent crime rate of 433 incidents per 100,000 residents per year, but its population is around 44,000. This means the actual number of violent crimes committed in the entire city per year is less than 200.

Economic Health in Rhode Island

Another factor is economic health. Although Rhode Island doesn’t top lists in terms of wealth when compared to other states, the median household income is around $86,000 per year, which is higher than the national average.¹¹

Scituate, the city with the state’s lowest levels of property crime, has a median household income of around $116,000 per year.¹²

Rhode Island's wealthy communities that have low crime account for a relatively large proportion of the state's land area, compared to wealthy communities in larger states.

Small and Safe

In summary, Rhode Island is one of America's safest states. Crime rates are below the national average and they continue to decrease year over year. Though urban centers like Providence and Woonsocket have higher crime rates — typical of densely populated areas — even these cities experience less crime than comparable urban centers in many other states. Rhode Island’s compact size, relative prosperity, and good neighbors contribute to making it a safe place to call home.

Where Our Crime Data Comes From

Unless specified otherwise, the information in this article is based on crime data compiled by the FBI and made available through the Crime Data Explorer. Statewide violent and property crime statistics are drawn from the FBI’s 2023 Crime in the United States Report (Table 5), and for city-level crime rates, we referred to Table 8, which lists reported offenses by state and city.

Important note: Crime statistics offer valuable insights, but they aren’t the only way to evaluate a community’s safety. Local context, law enforcement practices, and reporting standards can all influence how crime is recorded. Additionally, FBI publication tables and the data displayed on the Crime Data Explorer may differ slightly due to variations in methodology.

Navigate Crime Data by State

References

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2024). FBI Releases 2023 Crime in the Nation Statistics.
https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-releases-2023-crime-in-the-nation-statistics
U.S. News & World Report. Barrington School District.
https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/rhode-island/districts/barrington-101641
Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training. Educational Attainment by City/Town.
https://dlt.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur571/files/documents/pdf/lmi/edu.pdf
Data USA. (2023). Woonsocket, RI.
https://datausa.io/profile/geo/woonsocket-ri
Biggest US Cities. (2024). Woonsocket, Rhode Island Population 2024.
https://www.biggestuscities.com/city/woonsocket-rhode-island
U.S. Census Bureau. (2023). QuickFacts: Central Falls City, Rhode Island.
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/centralfallscityrhodeisland
Pew Research Center. (2024). What the data says (and doesn't say) about crime in the United States.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/24/what-the-data-says-about-crime-in-the-us/
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2024). FBI Releases 2023 Crime in the Nation Statistics.
https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-releases-2023-crime-in-the-nation-statistics
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2024). FBI Releases 2024 Quarterly Crime Report and Use-of-Force Data Update.
https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-releases-2024-quarterly-crime-report-and-use-of-force-data-update-q2
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2023). Crime in the U.S. 2023 Report, Table 5.
https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/
Neil S. Berg. (2023). Rhode Island Median Household Income by Age.
https://www.neilsberg.com/insights/rhode-island-median-household-income-by-age/
U.S. Census Bureau. (2023). Income and Poverty Data for Scituate town, Rhode Island.
https://data.census.gov/all?q=Scituate+town,+Rhode+Island&t=Income+and+Poverty