Photo: Rivers Langley; SaveRivers · CC BY-SA 3.0On property crime, Oxford has a higher rate per resident than 87% of U.S. towns
Its Safety Grade, C− (#61 of 130 graded towns in Alabama), rests on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025: more crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns. Per resident, the graded crimes were down 16% from 2023 to 2025. What’s more, the local count comes to 1.8 violent crimes and 26.1 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 Oxford
Oxford reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 1 Alabama towns on Oxford’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Anniston (D−). Neighbors ↓
Among Alabama towns, closer to the middle
Alabama’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Oxford’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 53% of the 130 Alabama towns we grade, against 23% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
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 Oxford’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 (1.8) 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 | Oxford property | Rest of Alabama property | Oxford violent | Rest of Alabama violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 29.1 | 24.8 | 2.3 | 5.4 |
| 2023 | 28.1 | 22.2 | 2.2 | 4.9 |
| 2024 | 26.6 | 21.7 | 1.4 | 4.8 |
| 2025 | 23.6 | 19.9 | 1.9 | 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 | Oxford | Rest of Alabama | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.3 | 5.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.2 | 4.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.4 | 4.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.9 | 4.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Oxford’s police reported 122 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.8 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 Oxford 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.
562 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.
41 violent and 521 property, as reported to the FBI by Oxford’s police.
21 people died in crashes on Oxford’s roads in 2019–2023
Oxford had 21 fatal crashes in five years, in which 21 people died; 3 were pedestrians. 1 died in crash on an Interstate.
That is 19.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Alabama towns of 5,000–25,000 people (9.6, 96 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.
Oxford 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oxford | C− | 1.8 | 26.1 |
| Helena | A | 0.6 | 4.4 |
| Mountain Brook | A− | 0.5 | 8.0 |
| Albertville | C | 2.5 | 16.4 |
| Cullman | C− | 2.2 | 26.7 |
| Bessemer | D− | 19.4 | 73.2 |
The five graded Alabama towns closest to Oxford’s population (22,199), 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 Oxford. 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 Oxford’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (22,088 in 2025); our figure for Oxford is 22,199 (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 Oxford
Is Oxford, AL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Oxford reports more crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #61 of 130 in Alabama. Its police reported 1.8 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 Oxford?
1.8 violent and 26.1 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 Oxford safer than Anniston?
Anniston reports more crime per resident than Oxford: Anniston grades D− for safety and Oxford C−. Anniston’s police reported 8.3 violent and 43.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Oxford?
Oxford’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Oxford”. 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 Oxford.
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.