The Safest and Most Dangerous Cities in Rhode Island
|
November 11, 2026
Rhode Island Security Solutions
The following is a list of cities that provide home security solutions in the state of Rhode Island
When you think of Rhode Island, what comes to mind? Probably its small size. 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? Its statewide figures are encouraging, though the differences between communities deserve a closer look.
According to the 202 FBI Crime in the U.S. report, Rhode Island has a violent crime rate of 144.1 offenses per 100,000 residents, 56% below the national rate. Its property crime rate of 910.5 is 41% below the national benchmark. Among the 50 states, it has the fourth-lowest violent crime rate and the third-lowest property crime rate.
Between 2022 and 2025, the number of violent crimes decreased 15%, while property crimes decreased 28%.
Rhode Island Cities With the Highest and Lowest Crime Rates
The following tables compare places with populations of at least 10,000. All rates represent reported offenses per 100,000 residents in 2025.
Cities with the highest property crime rates
| City or town | Property crime rate |
|---|---|
| Providence | 1,566.2 |
| Woonsocket | 1,465.0 |
| Newport | 1,313.5 |
Cities with the highest violent crime rates
| City or town | Violent crime rate |
|---|---|
| Woonsocket | 366.2 |
| Providence | 287.1 |
| Central Falls | 272.5 |
Cities with the lowest property crime rates
| City or town | Property crime rate |
|---|---|
| Glocester | 103.5 |
| Scituate | 110.9 |
| Burrillville | 141.7 |
Cities with the lowest violent crime rates
| City or town | Violent crime rate |
|---|---|
| Burrillville | 11.8 |
| Narragansett | 13.9 |
| South Kingstown | 34.3 |
Source: 2025 FBI Crime in the United States, Table 8. Rankings include places with at least 10,000 residents.
Burrillville, a rural town bordering both Massachusetts and Connecticut, has the lowest violent crime rate among the 28 Rhode Island cities we analyzed for this report, at 11.8 offenses per 100,000 residents. Narragansett, a coastal destination known for its scenic ocean views, follows at 13.9, then South Kingstown at 34.3.
For property crime, Glocester had Rhode Island’s lowest property crime rate at 103.5 per 100,000, followed by Scituate at 110.9 and Burrillville at 141.7. Burrillville is the only community in both lowest-rate groups, with 24 property crimes reported among 16,937 residents.
Woonsocket has the highest violent crime rate in this comparison, at 366.2 per 100,000. The capital city of Providence had the second highest violent crime rate at 287.1 and Central Falls ranked third with a rate of 272.5 follow. Only Woonsocket exceeds the national violent crime rate of 327.6. Providence suffered a violent event that made national and global headlines in 2025: the December shooting at Brown University that killed two students and injured nine others.
Providence also has the highest property crime rate among the Rhode Island cities we analyzed, at 1,566.2 per 100,000, just above the national rate of 1,534.8. Woonsocket at 1,465.0 and Newport at 1,313.5 round out the top three cities for property crime in the Ocean State.
How Does Crime in Rhode Island Compare to Other States?
In Rhode Island, the burglary rate is 56% lower than the national rate, motor vehicle theft 47% lower, and larceny-theft 37% lower.
Property crime rates
Offenses per 100,000 residents, 2025
| Crime type | Rhode Island | National |
|---|---|---|
| Property crime overall | 910.5 | 1,534.8 |
| Burglary | 86.1 | 193.6 |
| Larceny-theft | 719.7 | 1,144.1 |
| Motor vehicle theft | 104.7 | 197.0 |
The state’s violent crime rate is 56% below the national figure. Robbery is 64% lower in Rhode Island than across the nation as a whole, aggravated assault 61% lower, and murder and nonnegligent manslaughter 59% lower. Rape is closer to the national rate, though still 10% lower.
Violent crime rates
Offenses per 100,000 residents, 2025
| Crime type | Rhode Island | National |
|---|---|---|
| Violent crime overall | 144.1 | 327.6 |
| Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter | 1.7 | 4.1 |
| Aggravated assault | 92.0 | 238.0 |
| Robbery | 18.0 | 49.4 |
| Rape | 32.4 | 36.1 |
Is Rhode Island a Safe Place to Live?
Rhode Island’s low statewide rates and declining crime counts are encouraging for prospective residents. Burrillville stands out in both local low-rate groups, while Providence’s property crime rate is close to the national benchmark. Once you narrow your search, look at recent incidents around the specific home, school, and commuting routes you would use; a citywide ranking cannot describe every neighborhood.
Where Our Crime Data Comes From
Unless specified otherwise, the information in this article is based on the FBI’s Crime in the United States tables. Statewide offense counts and published crime rates come from Table 5, national benchmarks come from Table 1, and city-level figures come from Table 8.
The state and national rate comparisons use 2025 data. Changes in Ohio’s violent and property crime counts compare 2022 with 2025. The trend percentages reflect changes in offense counts, rather than population-adjusted rates.
For the local rankings, we calculated violent and property crime rates per 100,000 residents using the populations and offense counts in the 2025 dataset. Only places with at least 10,000 residents were eligible. We included zero reported rates and all places tied at the cutoff for the three lowest-rate selections. Missing values were not treated as zero. State rankings compare the 50 states and exclude the District of Columbia.
Percentages are rounded to whole numbers, and crime rates are rounded to one decimal place. Calculations and rankings use unrounded values. Rankings describe the jurisdictions included in the dataset rather than every community in the state.
Important note: Crime statistics offer valuable insights, but they aren’t the only way to evaluate a community’s safety. Local context, law enforcement participation, reporting practices, population estimates, and geographic boundaries can influence the figures. A zero reported rate does not guarantee that no crime occurred. These comparisons do not establish why crime is higher or lower in a particular place.
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
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
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