Photo: Ardelta · CC BY-SA 4.0Forrest City sees more crime per resident than 98% of U.S. towns
The crimes the grade counts fell 18% per resident from 2023 to 2025. By contrast, the grade is D−, built on crimes Forrest City’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #97 of 105 graded towns in Arkansas. Its police logs show 14.6 violent crimes and 31.2 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the rest of Arkansas the numbers are 6.8 and 24.6. It has more violent crime than 99% of U.S. towns, and more property crime than 92%.
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 Forrest City
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 Forrest City’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
Show as a table
| Year | Forrest City | Rest of Arkansas | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 22.1 | 7.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 18.7 | 7.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 11.8 | 6.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 13.2 | 6.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Forrest City’s police reported 540 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 14.6 per 1,000 residents a year, against 6.8 in the rest of Arkansas and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Forrest City property | Rest of Arkansas property | Forrest City violent | Rest of Arkansas violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 41.1 | 31.2 | 22.1 | 7.7 |
| 2023 | 34.5 | 28.8 | 18.7 | 7.4 |
| 2024 | 28.5 | 24.7 | 11.8 | 6.8 |
| 2025 | 30.6 | 20.4 | 13.2 | 6.2 |
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 Arkansas.
Crime in Forrest City 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 13 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
534 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.
161 violent and 373 property, as reported to the FBI by Forrest City’s police.
10 people died in crashes on Forrest City’s roads in 2019–2023
Forrest City had 9 fatal crashes in five years, in which 10 people died. 2 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 15.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Arkansas towns of 5,000–25,000 people (10.1, 52 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.
Forrest City and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forrest City | D− | 14.6 | 31.2 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Arkansas towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forrest City | D− | 14.6 | 31.2 |
| Lowell | B | 2.3 | 6.2 |
| Mountain Home | C− | 2.7 | 23.0 |
| Batesville | C− | 5.4 | 15.1 |
| Marion | D | 6.6 | 21.3 |
| Blytheville | D− | 10.8 | 39.0 |
The five graded Arkansas towns closest to Forrest City’s population (12,308), 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 Forrest City. 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 Forrest City’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (12,187 in 2025); our figure for Forrest City is 12,308 (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 Forrest City
Is Forrest City, AR safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Forrest City reports more crime per resident than 98% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade and #97 of 105 in Arkansas. Its police reported 14.6 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 6.8 in the rest of Arkansas and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Forrest City?
14.6 violent and 31.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Arkansas reports 6.8 and 24.6; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Forrest City?
Forrest City’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Forrest City”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Forrest City.
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.