Photo: Brandonrush · CC BY-SA 3.0Per resident, Van Buren records more property crime than four in five U.S. towns
Year on year, 3.4 violent crimes and 23.1 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 6.9 and 24.7 in the rest of Arkansas. Still, the grade is C−, built on crimes Van Buren’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #55 of 105 graded towns in Arkansas. The rate the grade counts dropped 29% from 2023 to 2025.
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 Van Buren
Van Buren reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 1 Arkansas towns on Van Buren’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Fort Smith (D−). Neighbors ↓
Among Arkansas towns, closer to the middle
Arkansas’ cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Van Buren’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 48% of the 105 Arkansas towns we grade, against 19% 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 Van Buren’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; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (3.4) 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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Van Buren property | Rest of Arkansas property | Van Buren violent | Rest of Arkansas violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 31.4 | 31.3 | 4.5 | 7.8 |
| 2023 | 28.3 | 28.9 | 3.4 | 7.5 |
| 2024 | 20.5 | 24.8 | 4.7 | 6.9 |
| 2025 | 20.6 | 20.5 | 2.1 | 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 Van Buren 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Van Buren | Rest of Arkansas | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.5 | 7.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.4 | 7.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.7 | 6.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.1 | 6.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Van Buren’s police reported 249 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.4 per 1,000 residents a year, against 6.9 in the rest of Arkansas and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
560 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.
51 violent and 509 property, as reported to the FBI by Van Buren’s police.
Five people died in crashes on Van Buren’s roads in 2019–2023
Van Buren had 5 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died; 1 was a pedestrian. Most of these deaths (4 of 5) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
That is fewer than is typical for Arkansas towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (10.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Van Buren’s size would see about 12 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Van Buren’s own rate (4.2) 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.
Van Buren and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Van Buren | C− | 3.4 | 23.1 |
| Fort Smith | D− | 8.8 | 37.1 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Arkansas towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Van Buren | C− | 3.4 | 23.1 |
| Centerton | A− | 1.6 | 2.7 |
| Bryant | C | 1.5 | 21.2 |
| Cabot | C | 3.7 | 16.0 |
| Searcy | D | 4.4 | 25.5 |
| West Memphis | D− | 20.6 | 43.5 |
The five graded Arkansas towns closest to Van Buren’s population (24,556), 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 Van Buren. 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 Van Buren’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (24,694 in 2025); our figure for Van Buren is 24,556 (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 Van Buren
Is Van Buren, AR safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Van Buren reports more crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #55 of 105 in Arkansas. Its police reported 3.4 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 Van Buren?
3.4 violent and 23.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Arkansas reports 6.9 and 24.7; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is Van Buren safer than Fort Smith?
Fort Smith reports more crime per resident than Van Buren: Fort Smith grades D− for safety and Van Buren C−. Fort Smith’s police reported 8.8 violent and 37.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Van Buren?
Van Buren’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Van Buren”. 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 Van Buren.
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.