Photo: Sharon Phelan Evans · CC BY-SA 3.0Vestavia Hills sees less crime per resident than three in four U.S. towns
Its 5 neighbors with figures all record more crime per resident. On top of that, on crimes reported by Vestavia Hills’ police in 2023–2025, it grades A− for safety: #8 of 130 graded towns in Alabama. The yearly rates were 0.8 violent crime and 6.9 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 4.7 and 21.5 in the rest of Alabama. The rate the grade counts dropped 32% from 2023 to 2025.
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 Vestavia Hills
Vestavia Hills reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 5 Alabama towns on Vestavia Hills’ borders, 5 have a Safety Grade: Mountain Brook (A−), Hoover (B), Homewood (C), Irondale (C), Birmingham (D−). Neighbors ↓
Among Alabama towns, higher
Alabama’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Vestavia Hills’ place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 94% of the 130 Alabama towns we grade, against 75% 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 Vestavia Hills’ 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 lower than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Vestavia Hills property | Rest of Alabama property | Vestavia Hills violent | Rest of Alabama violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.3 | 25.1 | 0.8 | 5.4 |
| 2023 | 8.6 | 22.4 | 0.8 | 4.9 |
| 2024 | 6.5 | 21.9 | 0.8 | 4.8 |
| 2025 | 5.6 | 20.1 | 0.7 | 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 | Vestavia Hills | Rest of Alabama | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.8 | 5.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.8 | 4.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.8 | 4.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.7 | 4.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Vestavia Hills’ police reported 86 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.8 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 Vestavia Hills 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 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
239 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.
26 violent and 213 property, as reported to the FBI by Vestavia Hills’ police.
Three people died in crashes on Vestavia Hills’s roads in 2019–2023
Vestavia Hills had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which three people died.
That is fewer than is typical for Alabama towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (9.5 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Vestavia Hills’s size would see about 18 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Vestavia Hills’s own rate (1.6) 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.
Vestavia Hills and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vestavia Hills | A− | 0.8 | 6.9 |
| Mountain Brook | A− | 0.5 | 8.0 |
| Hoover | B | 0.7 | 12.4 |
| Birmingham | D− | 13.4 | 43.2 |
| Irondale | C | 2.2 | 18.9 |
| Homewood | C | 1.6 | 20.5 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Alabama towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vestavia Hills | A− | 0.8 | 6.9 |
| Alabaster | B− | 1.0 | 13.6 |
| Prattville | C | 2.5 | 18.3 |
| Florence | D | 5.6 | 21.2 |
| Opelika | D | 5.7 | 24.7 |
| Phenix City | D | 7.9 | 32.6 |
The five graded Alabama towns closest to Vestavia Hills’ population (38,306), 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 Vestavia Hills. 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 Vestavia Hills’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (37,914 in 2025); our figure for Vestavia Hills is 38,306 (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 Vestavia Hills
Is Vestavia Hills, AL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Vestavia Hills reports less crime per resident than 75% of U.S. towns, an A− Safety Grade and #8 of 130 in Alabama. Its police reported 0.8 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 Vestavia Hills?
0.8 violent and 6.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Alabama reports 4.7 and 21.5; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Vestavia Hills in 2025?
Vestavia Hills’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Vestavia Hills safer than Mountain Brook?
Mountain Brook reports more crime per resident than Vestavia Hills: Mountain Brook grades A− for safety and Vestavia Hills A−. Mountain Brook’s police reported 0.5 violent and 8.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Vestavia Hills?
Vestavia Hills’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Vestavia Hills”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Vestavia Hills.
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.