Photo: Rivers A. Langley; SaveRivers · CC BY-SA 3.0Per resident, Opelika records more crime than 89% of U.S. towns
Its police logs show 5.7 violent crimes and 24.7 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the rest of Alabama the numbers are 4.7 and 21.2. Counting crimes Opelika’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades D for safety: #94 of 130 graded towns in Alabama. Even so, the crimes the grade counts fell 31% per resident from 2023 to 2025. It has more violent crime than 91% of U.S. towns, and more property crime than 85%.
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 Opelika
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 1 Alabama towns on Opelika’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Auburn (B). Neighbors ↓
Among Alabama towns, closer to the middle
Alabama’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Opelika’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 28% of the 130 Alabama towns we grade, against 11% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Opelika has 24,558 jobs based in town for 35,765 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 Opelika’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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Opelika property | Rest of Alabama property | Opelika violent | Rest of Alabama violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 27.4 | 24.8 | 8.1 | 5.3 |
| 2023 | 28.4 | 22.2 | 7.0 | 4.9 |
| 2024 | 26.2 | 21.7 | 5.6 | 4.8 |
| 2025 | 19.8 | 19.9 | 4.5 | 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.
Crime in Opelika 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 5 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Opelika | Rest of Alabama | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 8.1 | 5.3 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 7.0 | 4.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 5.6 | 4.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Opelika’s police reported 592 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 5.7 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.7 in the rest of Alabama and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
879 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.
164 violent and 715 property, as reported to the FBI by Opelika’s police.
23 people died in crashes on Opelika’s roads in 2019–2023
Opelika had 22 fatal crashes in five years, in which 23 people died; 5 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist. 8 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 14.0 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.
Opelika 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opelika | D | 5.7 | 24.7 |
| Vestavia Hills | A− | 0.8 | 6.9 |
| Alabaster | B− | 1.0 | 13.6 |
| Athens | C | 2.0 | 21.6 |
| Gadsden | D | 5.4 | 28.7 |
| Phenix City | D | 7.9 | 32.6 |
The five graded Alabama towns closest to Opelika’s population (35,765), 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 Opelika. 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 Opelika’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (36,066 in 2025); our figure for Opelika is 35,765 (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 Opelika
Is Opelika, AL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Opelika reports more crime per resident than 89% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #94 of 130 in Alabama. Its police reported 5.7 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 Opelika?
5.7 violent and 24.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Alabama reports 4.7 and 21.2; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Opelika in 2025?
Opelika’s police reported 5 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 13.9 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Opelika safer than Auburn?
Auburn reports less crime per resident than Opelika: Auburn grades B for safety and Opelika D. Auburn’s police reported 1.3 violent and 9.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Opelika?
Opelika’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Opelika”. 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 Opelika.
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.