Photo: Dough4872 · CC BY-SA 4.0On violent crime, Smyrna has a higher rate per resident than 86% of U.S. towns
On crimes Smyrna’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades C− for safety: #13 of 22 graded towns in Delaware. For every 1,000 residents, 4.6 violent crimes and 21.0 incidents of property crime were logged a year; in the rest of Delaware, the figures are 6.7 and 29.6.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of DE” is every other Delaware 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 Smyrna
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 1 Delaware towns on Smyrna’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Clayton (A−). Neighbors ↓
Among Delaware towns, closer to the middle
Delaware’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Smyrna’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 41% of the 22 Delaware towns we grade, against 17% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Smyrna’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.
Crime in Smyrna 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 5 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 | Smyrna | Rest of Delaware | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.2 | 7.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.6 | 7.0 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.9 | 6.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 5.4 | 6.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Smyrna’s police reported 185 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.6 per 1,000 residents a year, against 6.7 in the rest of Delaware and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Smyrna property | Rest of Delaware property | Smyrna violent | Rest of Delaware violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 21.5 | 31.0 | 5.2 | 7.1 |
| 2023 | 23.5 | 30.1 | 3.6 | 7.0 |
| 2024 | 19.6 | 31.1 | 4.9 | 6.9 |
| 2025 | 19.8 | 27.7 | 5.4 | 6.4 |
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 Delaware.
338 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.
72 violent and 266 property, as reported to the FBI by Smyrna’s police.
Six people died in crashes on Smyrna’s roads in 2019–2023
Smyrna had 5 fatal crashes in five years, in which six people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is about what is typical for Delaware towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (8.2 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Smyrna’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Smyrna’s own rate (9.1) 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.
Smyrna and its neighbors
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Delaware towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smyrna | C− | 4.6 | 21.0 |
| Middletown | C+ | 1.7 | 15.9 |
| Millsboro | C− | 3.8 | 24.1 |
| Milford | D | 7.0 | 32.4 |
| Georgetown | D− | 6.9 | 45.9 |
| Seaford | D− | 9.2 | 42.6 |
The five graded Delaware towns closest to Smyrna’s population (13,340), 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 Smyrna. 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 Smyrna’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (13,417 in 2025); our figure for Smyrna is 13,340 (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 Smyrna
Is Smyrna, DE safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Smyrna reports more crime per resident than 83% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #13 of 22 in Delaware. Its police reported 4.6 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 6.7 in the rest of Delaware and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Smyrna?
4.6 violent and 21.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Delaware reports 6.7 and 29.6; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is Smyrna safer than Clayton?
Clayton reports less crime per resident than Smyrna: Clayton grades A− for safety and Smyrna C−. Clayton’s police reported 1.1 violent and 3.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Smyrna?
Smyrna’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Smyrna”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Smyrna.
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.