Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, photographer not specified or unknown · Public domainRecorded crime per resident is higher in Bethel than in 95% of U.S. towns
It grades D for safety on crimes Bethel’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #16 of 18 graded towns in Alaska. Violence and property crime split as 12.6 violent crimes and 13.0 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 8.3 and 26.1 in the rest of Alaska. Add to that, the rate the grade counts climbed 39% from 2023 to 2025.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of AK” is every other Alaska city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in Bethel
Reported crime is rising
Crime reported per resident rose from 2023 to 2025 by more than ordinary year-to-year swings, on the grade’s own score. Trend ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Bethel’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are higher than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its property rate (13.0) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Bethel property | Rest of Alaska property | Bethel violent | Rest of Alaska violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.7 | 25.1 | 12.4 | 9.4 |
| 2023 | 7.4 | 26.8 | 8.5 | 8.5 |
| 2024 | 22.5 | 24.3 | 16.6 | 8.1 |
| 2025 | 9.3 | 27.3 | 12.8 | 8.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident rose from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Alaska.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Bethel | Rest of Alaska | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12.4 | 9.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 16.6 | 8.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 12.8 | 8.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Bethel’s police reported 238 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 12.6 per 1,000 residents a year, against 8.3 in the rest of Alaska and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Bethel per 1,000 residents
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
And about 13 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
140 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
81 violent and 59 property, as reported to the FBI by Bethel’s police.
One person died in crashes on Bethel’s roads in 2019–2023
Bethel had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
That is about what is typical for Alaska towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (6.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Bethel’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Bethel’s own rate (3.2) is context, not a ranking.
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Bethel and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bethel | D | 12.6 | 13.0 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Alaska towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bethel | D | 12.6 | 13.0 |
| Palmer | B− | 1.8 | 12.0 |
| Homer | B− | 2.0 | 12.0 |
| Kenai | C+ | 2.9 | 9.5 |
| Kodiak | C+ | 3.4 | 9.4 |
| Ketchikan | C− | 3.4 | 20.7 |
The five graded Alaska towns closest to Bethel’s population (6,626), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of Bethel. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Bethel’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (6,336 in 2025); our figure for Bethel is 6,626 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Bethel
Is Bethel, AK safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Bethel reports more crime per resident than 95% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #16 of 18 in Alaska. Its police reported 12.6 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 8.3 in the rest of Alaska and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Bethel?
12.6 violent and 13.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Alaska reports 8.3 and 26.1; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Bethel?
Bethel’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Bethel”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Bethel.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.