Photo: User:Brandonrush, Michaelkrewson, Doug Wertman, Alfred Carrillo, flickr user Learning Lark · CC BY-SA 3.0Bella Vista sees less property crime per resident than 84% of U.S. towns
Neither of the two towns next door with figures records less crime per resident. Bella Vista grades B+ for safety overall (#6 of 105 graded towns in Arkansas): less crime per resident than 71% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. In a usual year, 1.7 violent crimes and 4.1 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the rest of Arkansas, 6.9 and 25.0.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of AR” is every other Arkansas 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 Bella Vista
Bella Vista reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 2 Arkansas towns on Bella Vista’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Bentonville (B−), Gravette (B−). Neighbors ↓
Among Arkansas towns, higher
Arkansas’ cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Bella Vista’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 94% of the 105 Arkansas towns we grade, against 71% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Bella Vista’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Bella Vista’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down. Its violent rate (1.7) 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Bella Vista | Rest of Arkansas | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.2 | 7.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.5 | 7.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.0 | 7.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.7 | 6.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Bella Vista’s police reported 172 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.7 per 1,000 residents a year, against 6.9 in the rest of Arkansas and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Bella Vista 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.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Bella Vista property | Rest of Arkansas property | Bella Vista violent | Rest of Arkansas violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.2 | 31.8 | 2.2 | 7.9 |
| 2023 | 3.8 | 29.3 | 1.5 | 7.6 |
| 2024 | 4.9 | 25.1 | 2.0 | 7.0 |
| 2025 | 3.6 | 20.8 | 1.7 | 6.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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 Arkansas.
181 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.
57 violent and 124 property, as reported to the FBI by Bella Vista’s police.
Six people died in crashes on Bella Vista’s roads in 2019–2023
Bella Vista had 6 fatal crashes in five years, in which six people died.
That is fewer than is typical for Arkansas towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (9.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Bella Vista’s size would see about 15 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Bella Vista’s own rate (3.8) 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.
Bella Vista and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bella Vista | B+ | 1.7 | 4.1 |
| Gravette | B− | 2.5 | 10.1 |
| Bentonville | B− | 2.2 | 8.7 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Arkansas towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bella Vista | B+ | 1.7 | 4.1 |
| Benton | C− | 4.4 | 22.3 |
| Sherwood | D | 6.0 | 20.6 |
| Hot Springs | D | 5.2 | 45.2 |
| Paragould | D | 8.1 | 30.9 |
| Pine Bluff | D− | 15.4 | 43.6 |
The five graded Arkansas towns closest to Bella Vista’s population (34,518), 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 Bella Vista. 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 Bella Vista’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (34,086 in 2025); our figure for Bella Vista is 34,518 (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 Bella Vista
Is Bella Vista, AR safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Bella Vista reports less crime per resident than 71% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #6 of 105 in Arkansas. Its police reported 1.7 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 6.9 in the rest of Arkansas and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Bella Vista?
1.7 violent and 4.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Arkansas reports 6.9 and 25.0; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Bella Vista in 2025?
Bella Vista’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 Bella Vista safer than Gravette?
Gravette reports more crime per resident than Bella Vista: Gravette grades B− for safety and Bella Vista B+. Gravette’s police reported 2.5 violent and 10.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Bella Vista?
Bella Vista’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Bella Vista”. 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 Bella Vista.
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.