Photo: Cityofprescott · CC BY-SA 3.0Per resident, Prescott records more violent crime than 80% of U.S. towns
Recorded violent crimes ran at 3.7 per 1,000 residents a year and property crime at 12.6, against 4.4 and 18.7 in the rest of Arizona. Prescott’s overall Safety Grade is C (#32 of 55 graded towns in Arizona): more crime per resident than 68% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of AZ” is every other Arizona 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 Prescott
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 2 Arizona towns on Prescott’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Prescott Valley (B−). Williamson is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Neighbors ↓
A college town
Prescott is home to Yavapai College, with 5,126 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 8% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Prescott’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. Its property rate (12.6) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Crime in Prescott 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 4 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 | Prescott | Rest of Arizona | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.0 | 4.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.4 | 4.6 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Prescott’s police reported 540 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.7 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.4 in the rest of Arizona and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Prescott property | Rest of Arizona property | Prescott violent | Rest of Arizona violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 13.3 | 22.4 | 4.0 | 4.9 |
| 2023 | 14.4 | 20.4 | 3.5 | 4.5 |
| 2024 | 11.2 | 19.6 | 3.4 | 4.6 |
| 2025 | 12.1 | 16.2 | 4.3 | 3.9 |
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 Arizona.
800 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.
208 violent and 592 property, as reported to the FBI by Prescott’s police.
14 people died in crashes on Prescott’s roads in 2019–2023
Prescott had 13 fatal crashes in five years, in which 14 people died; 2 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
That is 5.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for Arizona towns of 25,000–100,000 people (7.5, 24 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.
Prescott and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prescott | C | 3.7 | 12.6 |
| Williamson | — | — | — |
| Prescott Valley | B− | 2.6 | 7.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Williamson is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
Arizona towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prescott | C | 3.7 | 12.6 |
| San Luis | A− | 0.8 | 5.4 |
| Oro Valley | B+ | 0.6 | 10.7 |
| Sierra Vista | C+ | 2.1 | 15.7 |
| Apache Junction | C | 4.1 | 14.1 |
| Bullhead City | C− | 4.0 | 19.6 |
The five graded Arizona towns closest to Prescott’s population (48,420), 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 Prescott. 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 Prescott’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (48,778 in 2025); our figure for Prescott is 48,420 (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 Prescott
Is Prescott, AZ safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Prescott reports more crime per resident than 68% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #32 of 55 in Arizona. Its police reported 3.7 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.4 in the rest of Arizona and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Prescott?
3.7 violent and 12.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Arizona reports 4.4 and 18.7; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Prescott in 2025?
Prescott’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 2.1 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Prescott safer than Prescott Valley?
Prescott Valley reports less crime per resident than Prescott: Prescott Valley grades B− for safety and Prescott C. Prescott Valley’s police reported 2.6 violent and 7.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Prescott?
Prescott’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Prescott”. 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 Prescott.
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.