Photo: Chris Pruitt · CC BY-SA 3.0More property crime is recorded per resident in Hartselle than in 78% of U.S. towns
Its Safety Grade, C (#51 of 130 graded towns in Alabama), rests on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025: more crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns. Even so, the local count comes to 2.0 violent crimes and 20.2 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 4.7 and 21.3 in the rest of Alabama.
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 Hartselle
1 of the 2 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 2 Alabama towns on Hartselle’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Falkville (B−), Decatur (D). Neighbors ↓
Among Alabama towns, closer to the middle
Alabama’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Hartselle’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 61% of the 130 Alabama towns we grade, against 30% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Hartselle’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. Its violent rate (2.0) 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 | Hartselle | Rest of Alabama | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.9 | 5.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.5 | 4.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.2 | 4.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.2 | 4.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Hartselle’s police reported 96 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.7 in the rest of Alabama and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Hartselle 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 | Hartselle property | Rest of Alabama property | Hartselle violent | Rest of Alabama violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 10.3 | 24.9 | 1.9 | 5.4 |
| 2023 | 16.6 | 22.3 | 1.5 | 4.9 |
| 2024 | 26.9 | 21.7 | 2.2 | 4.8 |
| 2025 | 17.2 | 19.9 | 2.2 | 4.4 |
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 Alabama.
317 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.
36 violent and 281 property, as reported to the FBI by Hartselle’s police.
Eight people died in crashes on Hartselle’s roads in 2019–2023
Hartselle had 7 fatal crashes in five years, in which eight people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is about what is typical for Alabama towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (9.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Hartselle’s size would see about 8 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Hartselle’s own rate (10.1) 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.
Hartselle and its neighbors
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Alabama towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hartselle | C | 2.0 | 20.2 |
| Saraland | B− | 0.9 | 16.4 |
| Gardendale | C | 2.3 | 18.0 |
| Gulf Shores | C− | 3.5 | 18.8 |
| Hueytown | D | 5.0 | 22.5 |
| Selma | D | 7.2 | 20.9 |
The five graded Alabama towns closest to Hartselle’s population (16,312), 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 Hartselle. 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 Hartselle’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (16,361 in 2025); our figure for Hartselle is 16,312 (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 Hartselle
Is Hartselle, AL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Hartselle reports more crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #51 of 130 in Alabama. Its police reported 2.0 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.7 in the rest of Alabama and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Hartselle?
2.0 violent and 20.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Alabama reports 4.7 and 21.3; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is Hartselle safer than Falkville?
Falkville reports less crime per resident than Hartselle: Falkville grades B− for safety and Hartselle C. Falkville’s police reported 2.3 violent and 10.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Hartselle?
Hartselle’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Hartselle”. 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 Hartselle.
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.