Photo: Brandonrush · CC BY-SA 4.0Fort Smith has more crime per resident than 97% of U.S. towns
Recorded violent crimes ran at 8.8 per 1,000 residents a year and property crime at 37.1, against 6.7 and 24.1 in the rest of Arkansas. Graded on crimes Fort Smith’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it scores D− for safety: #93 of 105 graded towns in Arkansas. The crimes the grade counts fell 22% per resident from 2023 to 2025. Its two neighbors with figures both record less crime per resident.
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 Fort Smith
2 of the 2 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 2 Arkansas towns on Fort Smith’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Barling (C), Van Buren (C−). Neighbors ↓
A job center
Fort Smith has 60,113 jobs based in town for 90,855 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
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 Fort Smith’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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Fort Smith property | Rest of Arkansas property | Fort Smith violent | Rest of Arkansas violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 49.4 | 30.4 | 10.4 | 7.7 |
| 2023 | 41.7 | 28.2 | 10.2 | 7.3 |
| 2024 | 36.8 | 24.2 | 8.4 | 6.8 |
| 2025 | 32.7 | 19.9 | 7.9 | 6.1 |
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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Fort Smith | Rest of Arkansas | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 10.4 | 7.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 10.2 | 7.3 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 8.4 | 6.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 7.9 | 6.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Fort Smith’s police reported 2,397 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 8.8 per 1,000 residents a year, against 6.7 in the rest of Arkansas and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Fort Smith 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 8 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
3,685 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.
715 violent and 2,970 property, as reported to the FBI by Fort Smith’s police.
61 people died in crashes on Fort Smith’s roads in 2019–2023
Fort Smith had 60 fatal crashes in five years, in which 61 people died; 11 were pedestrians and 3 were cyclists. 4 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 13.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Arkansas towns of 25,000–100,000 people (9.8, 18 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.
Fort Smith and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Smith | D− | 8.8 | 37.1 |
| Barling | C | 3.4 | 13.0 |
| Van Buren | C− | 3.4 | 23.1 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Arkansas towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Smith | D− | 8.8 | 37.1 |
| Rogers | C | 3.2 | 13.1 |
| Springdale | C− | 5.2 | 19.7 |
| Conway | C− | 5.2 | 21.2 |
| Fayetteville | D | 4.3 | 24.9 |
| Jonesboro | D | 6.4 | 29.1 |
The five graded Arkansas towns closest to Fort Smith’s population (90,855), 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 Fort Smith. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Fort Smith’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (90,848 in 2025); our figure for Fort Smith is 90,855 (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 Fort Smith
Is Fort Smith, AR safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Fort Smith reports more crime per resident than 97% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade and #93 of 105 in Arkansas. Its police reported 8.8 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 6.7 in the rest of Arkansas and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Fort Smith?
8.8 violent and 37.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Arkansas reports 6.7 and 24.1; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Fort Smith in 2025?
Fort Smith’s police reported 7 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 7.7 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Fort Smith safer than Barling?
Barling reports less crime per resident than Fort Smith: Barling grades C for safety and Fort Smith D−. Barling’s police reported 3.4 violent and 13.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Fort Smith?
Fort Smith’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Fort Smith”. 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 Fort Smith.
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.