Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 2.5Bartow reports more crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Bartow’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C− for safety: #92 of 128 graded towns in Florida.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of FL” is every other Florida 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 Bartow
A job center
Bartow has 28,725 jobs based in town for 23,617 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
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 Bartow’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 (16.6) 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.
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 Florida.
Show as a table
| Year | Bartow property | Rest of Florida property | Bartow violent | Rest of Florida violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 18.2 | 22.1 | 4.2 | 4.4 |
| 2023 | 22.5 | 19.2 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
| 2024 | 17.9 | 18.4 | 4.9 | 3.5 |
| 2025 | 10.1 | 14.3 | 3.5 | 3.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 10 property crimes reported
And about 4 violent crimes, 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Bartow’s police reported 260 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.1 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.4 in the rest of Florida and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Bartow | Rest of Florida | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.8 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.9 | 3.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.5 | 3.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
311 crimes reported in 2025
80 violent and 231 property, as reported to the FBI by Bartow’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
23 people died in crashes on Bartow’s roads in 2019–2023
Bartow had 21 fatal crashes in five years, in which 23 people died; 6 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
That is 22.5 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Florida towns of 5,000–25,000 people (11.0, 308 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.
Bartow and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bartow | C− | 4.1 | 16.6 |
| Highland City | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Highland City is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
Florida towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bartow | C− | 4.1 | 16.6 |
| Lynn Haven | B+ | 1.1 | 7.0 |
| Hialeah Gardens | B | 0.7 | 12.6 |
| Sunny Isles Beach | B | 1.2 | 10.8 |
| Palmetto Bay | C+ | 1.5 | 18.3 |
| Key West | C− | 3.3 | 19.7 |
The five graded Florida towns closest to Bartow’s population (23,617), 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 Bartow. 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 Bartow’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (22,765 in 2025); our figure for Bartow is 23,617 (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 Bartow
Is Bartow, FL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Bartow reports more crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #92 of 128 in Florida. Its police reported 4.1 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.4 in the rest of Florida and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Bartow?
4.1 violent and 16.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Florida reports 3.4 and 17.2; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Bartow?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Who polices Bartow?
Bartow’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Bartow”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Bartow.
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.