Sterling Opera House · Photo: Own work · CC BY-SA 3.0Derby reports more crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Derby’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C− for safety: #84 of 90 graded towns in Connecticut.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of CT” is every other Connecticut 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 Derby
4 of the 5 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 5 Connecticut towns on Derby’s borders, 5 have a Safety Grade: Seymour (A), Shelton (A−), Woodbridge (B+), Ansonia (B−), Orange (C−). Neighbors ↓
Among Connecticut towns, lower
Connecticut’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Derby’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 7% of the 90 Connecticut towns we grade, against 23% 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 Derby’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 (2.2) 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 is falling
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 Connecticut.
Show as a table
| Year | Derby property | Rest of Connecticut property | Derby violent | Rest of Connecticut violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 30.5 | 16.7 | 3.6 | 1.7 |
| 2023 | 27.5 | 17.1 | 2.2 | 1.7 |
| 2024 | 25.5 | 15.4 | 3.1 | 1.5 |
| 2025 | 21.6 | 12.5 | 1.3 | 1.2 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Derby’s police reported 83 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.2 per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.5 in the rest of Connecticut and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Derby | Rest of Connecticut | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.6 | 1.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.2 | 1.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.1 | 1.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 22 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
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.
299 crimes reported in 2025
17 violent and 282 property, as reported to the FBI by Derby’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Seven people died in crashes on Derby’s roads in 2019–2023
Derby had 7 fatal crashes in five years, in which seven people died; 2 were pedestrians.
That is about what is typical for Connecticut towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (7.5 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Derby’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Derby’s own rate (11.2) 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.
Derby and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Connecticut towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Derby | C− | 2.2 | 24.8 |
| East Hampton | A | 0.2 | 5.3 |
| Coventry | A | 0.5 | 5.0 |
| North Branford | A− | 0.2 | 6.8 |
| Windsor Locks | B | 0.8 | 11.0 |
| Clinton | C+ | 0.5 | 20.1 |
The five graded Connecticut towns closest to Derby’s population (12,925), by grade.
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 Derby. 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 Derby’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (13,072 in 2025); our figure for Derby is 12,925 (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 Derby
Is Derby, CT safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Derby reports more crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #84 of 90 in Connecticut. Its police reported 2.2 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.5 in the rest of Connecticut and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Derby?
2.2 violent and 24.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Connecticut reports 1.5 and 15.0; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Derby?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Derby safer than Ansonia?
Ansonia reports less crime per resident than Derby: Ansonia grades B− for safety and Derby C−. Ansonia’s police reported 0.6 violent and 15.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Derby?
Derby’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Derby”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Derby.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
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.