West Ocala Historic District · Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY 2.5Ocala reports more crime per resident than 89% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Ocala’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D for safety: #112 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 Ocala
A job center
Ocala has 69,128 jobs based in town for 71,753 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 Ocala’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.
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, 2023–2025, against the rest of Florida.
Show as a table
| Year | Ocala property | Rest of Florida property | Ocala violent | Rest of Florida violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 29.7 | 19.1 | 5.5 | 3.6 |
| 2024 | 30.5 | 18.2 | 5.0 | 3.5 |
| 2025 | 24.7 | 14.2 | 3.8 | 3.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 25 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
Ocala’s police reported 989 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.7 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.3 in the rest of Florida and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Ocala | Rest of Florida | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 5.5 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 5.0 | 3.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.8 | 3.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
2,055 crimes reported in 2025
276 violent and 1,779 property, as reported to the FBI by Ocala’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
81 people died in crashes on Ocala’s roads in 2019–2023
Ocala had 79 fatal crashes in five years, in which 81 people died; 31 were pedestrians and 4 were cyclists. 7 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 24.3 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Florida towns of 25,000–100,000 people (9.7, 147 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.
Ocala and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ocala | D | 4.7 | 28.2 |
| Silver Springs | — | — | — |
| Liberty Triangle | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Silver Springs and Liberty Triangle are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
Florida towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ocala | D | 4.7 | 28.2 |
| St. Cloud | B | 1.6 | 7.9 |
| Palm Beach Gardens | B− | 0.9 | 15.4 |
| Delray Beach | C− | 3.2 | 19.6 |
| Apopka | C− | 4.2 | 22.1 |
| Sanford | D | 5.6 | 23.2 |
The five graded Florida towns closest to Ocala’s population (71,753), 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 Ocala. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Ocala’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (71,947 in 2025); our figure for Ocala is 71,753 (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 Ocala
Is Ocala, FL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Ocala reports more crime per resident than 89% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #112 of 128 in Florida. Its police reported 4.7 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.3 in the rest of Florida and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Ocala?
4.7 violent and 28.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Florida reports 3.3 and 17.1; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Ocala?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Ocala in 2025?
Ocala’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 1.4 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Ocala?
Ocala’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Ocala”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Ocala.
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.