Edmund Pettus Bridge · Photo: Carol M. Highsmith · Public domainSelma reports more crime per resident than 90% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Selma’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D for safety: #101 of 130 graded towns in 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 Selma
Among Alabama towns, closer to the middle
Alabama’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Selma’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 22% of the 130 Alabama towns we grade, against 10% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Selma’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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Selma’s police reported 353 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 7.2 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.7 in the rest of Alabama and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Selma | Rest of Alabama | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.7 | 5.3 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 8.2 | 4.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 6.2 | 4.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 7.2 | 4.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 19 property crimes reported
And about 7 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
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.
Reported crime is steady
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Selma property | Rest of Alabama property | Selma violent | Rest of Alabama violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 16.2 | 24.9 | 7.7 | 5.3 |
| 2023 | 19.4 | 22.3 | 8.2 | 4.9 |
| 2024 | 24.7 | 21.7 | 6.2 | 4.8 |
| 2025 | 18.7 | 19.9 | 7.2 | 4.4 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
413 crimes reported in 2025
115 violent and 298 property, as reported to the FBI by Selma’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
13 people died in crashes on Selma’s roads in 2019–2023
Selma had 11 fatal crashes in five years, in which 13 people died; 8 were pedestrians.
That is 15.2 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.
Selma and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Selma | D | 7.2 | 20.9 |
| Valley Grande | — | — | — |
| Selmont-West Selmont | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Valley Grande has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Selmont-West Selmont is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
Alabama towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Selma | D | 7.2 | 20.9 |
| Saraland | B− | 0.9 | 16.4 |
| Fort Payne | C+ | 1.8 | 14.7 |
| Gardendale | C | 2.3 | 18.0 |
| Hartselle | C | 2.0 | 20.2 |
| Hueytown | D | 5.0 | 22.5 |
The five graded Alabama towns closest to Selma’s population (16,077), by grade.
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 Selma. 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 Selma’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (15,955 in 2025); our figure for Selma is 16,077 (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 Selma
Is Selma, AL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Selma reports more crime per resident than 90% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #101 of 130 in Alabama. Its police reported 7.2 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 Selma?
7.2 violent and 20.9 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 crime going up or down in Selma?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Who polices Selma?
Selma’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Selma”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Selma.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
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.