Plaza Ferdinand VII · Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0Recorded crime per resident in Pensacola fell 63% from 2023 to 2025
Violent crime here is lower than in 70% of U.S. towns; property crime, lower than in 67%. Per 1,000 residents a year, 0.9 violent crime and 7.3 incidents of property crime were recorded, against 3.4 and 17.3 in the rest of Florida. Across all the graded crimes, Pensacola lands on B+ (#18 of 128 graded towns in Florida): less crime per resident than 71% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025.
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 Pensacola
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 6 Florida towns on Pensacola’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Gulf Breeze (A). Ferry Pass, Goulding, Brent, West Pensacola and Warrington are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own. Neighbors ↓
Among Florida towns, higher
Florida’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Pensacola’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 86% of the 128 Florida towns we grade, against 71% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Pensacola is home to Pensacola State College, with 6,261 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 4% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
A job center
Pensacola has 61,650 jobs based in town for 53,817 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 Pensacola’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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Pensacola property | Rest of Florida property | Pensacola violent | Rest of Florida violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 11.2 | 19.3 | 1.3 | 3.6 |
| 2024 | 6.8 | 18.5 | 0.7 | 3.5 |
| 2025 | 3.8 | 14.4 | 0.8 | 3.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Pensacola | Rest of Florida | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.3 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.7 | 3.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.8 | 3.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Pensacola’s police reported 152 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.4 in the rest of Florida and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Pensacola 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 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
248 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. 2025 figures come from FBI Crime Data Explorer, which publishes violent crime, homicides, robberies and property crime only.
42 violent and 206 property, as reported to the FBI by Pensacola’s police.
22 people died in crashes on Pensacola’s roads in 2019–2023
Pensacola had 22 fatal crashes in five years, in which 22 people died; 5 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist. 1 died in crash on an Interstate.
That is 8.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, below 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.
Pensacola and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pensacola | B+ | 0.9 | 7.3 |
| Ferry Pass | — | — | — |
| Goulding | — | — | — |
| Brent | — | — | — |
| West Pensacola | — | — | — |
| Warrington | — | — | — |
| Gulf Breeze | A | 0.5 | 2.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Ferry Pass, Goulding, Brent, West Pensacola and Warrington are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
Florida towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pensacola | B+ | 0.9 | 7.3 |
| Coral Gables | B− | 0.7 | 14.2 |
| Sarasota | C+ | 3.1 | 10.1 |
| Titusville | C | 4.3 | 10.7 |
| Pinellas Park | C− | 2.4 | 23.1 |
| Bradenton | C− | 4.8 | 17.5 |
The five graded Florida towns closest to Pensacola’s population (53,817), 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 Pensacola. 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 Pensacola’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (53,754 in 2025); our figure for Pensacola is 53,817 (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 Pensacola
Is Pensacola, FL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Pensacola reports less crime per resident than 71% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #18 of 128 in Florida. Its police reported 0.9 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 Pensacola?
0.9 violent and 7.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Florida reports 3.4 and 17.3; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Pensacola in 2025?
Pensacola’s police reported 3 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 5.6 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Pensacola safer than Gulf Breeze?
Gulf Breeze reports less crime per resident than Pensacola: Gulf Breeze grades A for safety and Pensacola B+. Gulf Breeze’s police reported 0.5 violent and 2.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Pensacola?
Pensacola’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Pensacola Police Department”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Pensacola.
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.