Sheldon Jackson School · Photo: Jet Lowe · Public domainLess property crime is recorded per resident in Sitka than in 71% of U.S. towns
Overall, Sitka grades B for safety (#4 of 18 graded towns in Alaska): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Police counts work out at 2.2 violent crimes and 6.6 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the rest of Alaska they are 8.5 and 26.3.
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 Sitka
Among Alaska towns, higher
Alaska’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Sitka’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 78% of the 18 Alaska towns we grade, against 58% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Sitka’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Sitka’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down. Its violent rate (2.2) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Sitka | Rest of Alaska | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.0 | 9.6 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.3 | 8.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.8 | 8.4 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.4 | 8.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Sitka’s police reported 54 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.2 per 1,000 residents a year, against 8.5 in the rest of Alaska and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Sitka 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 2 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Sitka property | Rest of Alaska property | Sitka violent | Rest of Alaska violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.3 | 25.1 | 1.0 | 9.6 |
| 2023 | 8.4 | 26.9 | 2.3 | 8.6 |
| 2024 | 6.5 | 24.6 | 1.8 | 8.4 |
| 2025 | 5.0 | 27.4 | 2.4 | 8.4 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Alaska.
61 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.
20 violent and 41 property, as reported to the FBI by Sitka’s police.
One person died in crashes on Sitka’s roads in 2019–2023
Sitka had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died; 1 was a cyclist.
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 Sitka’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Sitka’s own rate (2.4) 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.
Sitka and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sitka | B | 2.2 | 6.6 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Alaska towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sitka | B | 2.2 | 6.6 |
| Palmer | B− | 1.8 | 12.0 |
| Kenai | C+ | 2.9 | 9.5 |
| Ketchikan | C− | 3.4 | 20.7 |
| Wasilla | D | 4.7 | 32.2 |
| Bethel | D | 12.6 | 13.0 |
The five graded Alaska towns closest to Sitka’s population (8,319), 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 Sitka. 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 Sitka’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (8,281 in 2025); our figure for Sitka is 8,319 (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 Sitka
Is Sitka, AK safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Sitka reports less crime per resident than 58% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #4 of 18 in Alaska. Its police reported 2.2 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 8.5 in the rest of Alaska and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Sitka?
2.2 violent and 6.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Alaska reports 8.5 and 26.3; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Sitka?
Sitka’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Sitka”. 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 Sitka.
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.