Photo: Rudi Weikard · CC BY-SA 3.0Bessemer has more crime per resident than almost every U.S. town
The graded rate fell 16% from 2023 to 2025. Counting crimes Bessemer’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades D− for safety. On top of that, each year brought 19.4 violent crimes and 73.2 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (4.6 and 20.9 in the rest of Alabama). All 4 towns next door with figures record less crime per resident.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of AL” is every other Alabama 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 Bessemer
4 of the 4 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 7 Alabama towns on Bessemer’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Helena (A), Hoover (B), Hueytown (D), Birmingham (D−). McCalla is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Brighton reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025. Lipscomb reported to the FBI for 2024 but not 2023 or 2025. Neighbors ↓
A job center
Bessemer has 24,704 jobs based in town for 24,984 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Reported crime is falling
Crime reported per resident fell 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 Bessemer’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; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Bessemer | Rest of Alabama | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 18.2 | 5.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 23.7 | 4.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 17.4 | 4.7 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 17.1 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Bessemer’s police reported 1,445 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 19.4 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.6 in the rest of Alabama and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Bessemer property | Rest of Alabama property | Bessemer violent | Rest of Alabama violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 74.1 | 24.3 | 18.2 | 5.2 |
| 2023 | 79.3 | 21.8 | 23.7 | 4.7 |
| 2024 | 71.2 | 21.3 | 17.4 | 4.7 |
| 2025 | 69.2 | 19.5 | 17.1 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Alabama.
Crime in Bessemer 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 17 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
2,143 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.
424 violent and 1,719 property, as reported to the FBI by Bessemer’s police.
17 people died in crashes on Bessemer’s roads in 2019–2023
Bessemer had 16 fatal crashes in five years, in which 17 people died; 7 were pedestrians. 7 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 13.4 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Alabama towns of 25,000–100,000 people (9.5, 19 towns).
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.
Bessemer and its neighbors
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. McCalla is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Brighton reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025. Lipscomb reported to the FBI for 2024 but not 2023 or 2025.
Alabama towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bessemer | D− | 19.4 | 73.2 |
| Pelham | B | 1.6 | 8.8 |
| Fairhope | B− | 1.4 | 12.4 |
| Trussville | C+ | 1.3 | 17.6 |
| Albertville | C | 2.5 | 16.4 |
| Homewood | C | 1.6 | 20.5 |
The five graded Alabama towns closest to Bessemer’s population (24,984), 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 Bessemer. 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 Bessemer’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (24,850 in 2025); our figure for Bessemer is 24,984 (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 Bessemer
Is Bessemer, AL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Bessemer reports more crime per resident than 100% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade. Its police reported 19.4 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.6 in the rest of Alabama and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Bessemer?
19.4 violent and 73.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Alabama reports 4.6 and 20.9; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is Bessemer safer than Hueytown?
Hueytown reports less crime per resident than Bessemer: Hueytown grades D for safety and Bessemer D−. Hueytown’s police reported 5.0 violent and 22.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Bessemer?
Bessemer’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Bessemer”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Bessemer.
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.