Photo: Делян Ковачев · CC BY-SA 3.0Violent crime per resident is lower in Shelton than in 87% of U.S. towns
Among its 7 neighbors with figures, 2 record less crime per resident. Shelton grades A− for safety overall (#31 of 90 graded towns in Connecticut): less crime per resident than 80% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. On top of that, the yearly rates were 0.4 violent crime and 6.5 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 1.5 and 15.2 in the rest of Connecticut. The rate the grade counts held about level from 2023 to 2025.
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 Shelton
2 of the 7 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 8 Connecticut towns on Shelton’s borders, 7 have a Safety Grade: Monroe (A), Seymour (A), Stratford (B−), Trumbull (C+), Milford (C+), Derby (C−), Orange (C−). Oxford has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Among Connecticut towns, closer to the middle
Connecticut’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Shelton’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 66% of the 90 Connecticut towns we grade, against 80% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Shelton’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 lower than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Shelton | Rest of Connecticut | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.5 | 1.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.5 | 1.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Shelton’s police reported 54 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.4 per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.5 in the rest of Connecticut and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Shelton 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 fewer than 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Shelton property | Rest of Connecticut property | Shelton violent | Rest of Connecticut violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 9.2 | 16.9 | 0.5 | 1.7 |
| 2023 | 6.0 | 17.3 | 0.5 | 1.7 |
| 2024 | 7.1 | 15.6 | 0.4 | 1.5 |
| 2025 | 6.5 | 12.7 | 0.3 | 1.2 |
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 Connecticut.
296 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.
14 violent and 282 property, as reported to the FBI by Shelton’s police.
19 people died in crashes on Shelton’s roads in 2019–2023
Shelton had 17 fatal crashes in five years, in which 19 people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is 9.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Connecticut towns of 25,000–100,000 people (6.8, 47 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.
Shelton and its neighbors
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Oxford has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Connecticut towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shelton | A− | 0.4 | 6.5 |
| Wallingford | A− | 0.3 | 6.6 |
| Groton | B+ | 0.7 | 9.5 |
| Southington | B− | 0.4 | 15.2 |
| Norwich | B− | 2.1 | 11.9 |
| Enfield | C+ | 1.4 | 15.8 |
The five graded Connecticut towns closest to Shelton’s population (42,880), 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 Shelton. 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 Shelton’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (43,332 in 2025); our figure for Shelton is 42,880 (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 Shelton
Is Shelton, CT safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Shelton reports less crime per resident than 80% of U.S. towns, an A− Safety Grade and #31 of 90 in Connecticut. Its police reported 0.4 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 Shelton?
0.4 violent and 6.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Connecticut reports 1.5 and 15.2; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Shelton in 2025?
Shelton’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Shelton safer than Stratford?
Stratford reports more crime per resident than Shelton: Stratford grades B− for safety and Shelton A−. Stratford’s police reported 0.8 violent and 17.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Shelton?
Shelton’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Shelton”. 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 Shelton.
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.