Florence, Alabama Music Enterprises (FAME) Recording Studios · Photo: Carol M. Highsmith · Public domainPer resident, Muscle Shoals records more property crime than 86% of U.S. towns
Each of the two towns on its borders with figures records less crime per resident. All told, Muscle Shoals grades C− for safety (#64 of 130 graded towns in Alabama): more crime per resident than 78% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. The crimes the grade counts fell 35% per resident from 2023 to 2025. Violence and property crime split as 2.2 violent crimes and 25.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 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 Muscle Shoals
2 of the 2 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 2 Alabama towns on Muscle Shoals’ borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Tuscumbia (A−), Sheffield (C). Neighbors ↓
Among Alabama towns, closer to the middle
Alabama’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Muscle Shoals’ place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 51% of the 130 Alabama towns we grade, against 22% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Muscle Shoals is home to Northwest Shoals Community College, with 3,369 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 7% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
A job center
Muscle Shoals has 11,582 jobs based in town for 17,666 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 Muscle Shoals’ 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 (2.2) 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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Muscle Shoals property | Rest of Alabama property | Muscle Shoals violent | Rest of Alabama violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 24.4 | 24.8 | 3.6 | 5.4 |
| 2023 | 28.3 | 22.2 | 2.7 | 4.9 |
| 2024 | 29.8 | 21.7 | 1.8 | 4.8 |
| 2025 | 18.0 | 19.9 | 2.1 | 4.4 |
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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Muscle Shoals | Rest of Alabama | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.6 | 5.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.7 | 4.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.8 | 4.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.1 | 4.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Muscle Shoals’ police reported 117 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.2 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 Muscle Shoals 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.
356 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.
38 violent and 318 property, as reported to the FBI by Muscle Shoals’ police.
Two people died in crashes on Muscle Shoals’s roads in 2019–2023
Muscle Shoals had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is fewer than 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 Muscle Shoals’s size would see about 8 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Muscle Shoals’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.
Muscle Shoals and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muscle Shoals | C− | 2.2 | 25.3 |
| Sheffield | C | 3.9 | 16.4 |
| Tuscumbia | A− | 0.7 | 4.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Alabama towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muscle Shoals | C− | 2.2 | 25.3 |
| Saraland | B− | 0.9 | 16.4 |
| Gulf Shores | C− | 3.5 | 18.8 |
| Millbrook | C− | 2.2 | 30.7 |
| Troy | D | 5.0 | 30.8 |
| Prichard | D | 7.4 | 19.6 |
The five graded Alabama towns closest to Muscle Shoals’ population (17,666), 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 Muscle Shoals. 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 Muscle Shoals’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (17,678 in 2025); our figure for Muscle Shoals is 17,666 (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 Muscle Shoals
Is Muscle Shoals, AL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Muscle Shoals reports more crime per resident than 78% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #64 of 130 in Alabama. Its police reported 2.2 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 Muscle Shoals?
2.2 violent and 25.3 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 Muscle Shoals safer than Sheffield?
Sheffield reports less crime per resident than Muscle Shoals: Sheffield grades C for safety and Muscle Shoals C−. Sheffield’s police reported 3.9 violent and 16.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Muscle Shoals?
Muscle Shoals’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Muscle Shoals”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Muscle Shoals.
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.