Newman, E.L., Lustron House · Photo: themidnite · CC BY-SA 3.0Sheffield reports more crime per resident than 75% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Sheffield’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C for safety: #58 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 Sheffield
1 of the 2 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 2 Alabama towns on Sheffield’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Tuscumbia (A−), Muscle Shoals (C−). Neighbors ↓
Among Alabama towns, closer to the middle
Alabama’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Sheffield’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 55% of the 130 Alabama towns we grade, against 25% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Sheffield’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. Its property rate (16.4) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
For every 1,000 residents, about 15 property crimes reported
And about 4 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Sheffield’s police reported 109 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.9 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 | Sheffield | Rest of Alabama | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2.9 | 4.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 5.2 | 4.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.6 | 4.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
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, 2023–2025, against the rest of Alabama.
Show as a table
| Year | Sheffield property | Rest of Alabama property | Sheffield violent | Rest of Alabama violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 15.0 | 22.3 | 2.9 | 4.9 |
| 2024 | 19.0 | 21.7 | 5.2 | 4.8 |
| 2025 | 15.3 | 19.9 | 3.6 | 4.4 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
177 crimes reported in 2025
34 violent and 143 property, as reported to the FBI by Sheffield’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Five people died in crashes on Sheffield’s roads in 2019–2023
Sheffield had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which five 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 Sheffield’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Sheffield’s own rate (10.7) 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.
Sheffield and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sheffield | C | 3.9 | 16.4 |
| Muscle Shoals | C− | 2.2 | 25.3 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sheffield | C | 3.9 | 16.4 |
| Southside | A | 0.7 | 3.1 |
| Pleasant Grove | B− | 1.7 | 12.9 |
| Fultondale | C− | 3.0 | 24.2 |
| Guntersville | C− | 3.5 | 28.1 |
| Clanton | D | 3.3 | 34.1 |
The five graded Alabama towns closest to Sheffield’s population (9,416), 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 Sheffield. 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 Sheffield’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (9,323 in 2025); our figure for Sheffield is 9,416 (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 Sheffield
Is Sheffield, AL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Sheffield reports more crime per resident than 75% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #58 of 130 in Alabama. Its police reported 3.9 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 Sheffield?
3.9 violent and 16.4 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 Sheffield?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Sheffield safer than Muscle Shoals?
Muscle Shoals reports more crime per resident than Sheffield: Muscle Shoals grades C− for safety and Sheffield C. Muscle Shoals’s police reported 2.2 violent and 25.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Sheffield?
Sheffield’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Sheffield”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Sheffield.
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.