Photo: Cullen Morgan · CC BY 4.0Sarasota reports less property crime than most U.S. towns, but more violent crime
Overall, Sarasota grades C+ for safety (#59 of 128 graded towns in Florida): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
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 Sarasota
Among Florida towns, closer to the middle
Florida’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Sarasota’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 54% of the 128 Florida towns we grade, against 41% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Sarasota has 48,872 jobs based in town for 58,458 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Reported crime is rising
Crime reported per resident rose 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 Sarasota’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Sarasota’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down. Its violent rate (3.1) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Sarasota’s police reported 542 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.1 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 | Sarasota | Rest of Florida | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.6 | 4.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.0 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 5.5 | 3.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.8 | 3.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 14 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.
Reported crime is rising
Reported crime per resident rose 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 | Sarasota property | Rest of Florida property | Sarasota violent | Rest of Florida violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 31.4 | 22.0 | 6.6 | 4.4 |
| 2023 | 0.0 | 19.4 | 0.0 | 3.6 |
| 2024 | 16.2 | 18.4 | 5.5 | 3.5 |
| 2025 | 14.1 | 14.3 | 3.8 | 3.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
1,045 crimes reported in 2025
221 violent and 824 property, as reported to the FBI by Sarasota’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
56 people died in crashes on Sarasota’s roads in 2019–2023
Sarasota had 51 fatal crashes in five years, in which 56 people died; 20 were pedestrians and 8 were cyclists.
That is 19.7 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.
Sarasota and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sarasota | C+ | 3.1 | 10.1 |
| North Sarasota | — | — | — |
| South Sarasota | — | — | — |
| Southgate | — | — | — |
| Siesta Key | — | — | — |
| Fruitville | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. North Sarasota, South Sarasota, Southgate, Siesta Key and Fruitville are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
Florida towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sarasota | C+ | 3.1 | 10.1 |
| Jupiter | A | 0.7 | 3.7 |
| Pensacola | B+ | 0.9 | 7.3 |
| Wellington | B | 1.2 | 8.7 |
| Winter Haven | C | 2.8 | 15.7 |
| Bradenton | C− | 4.8 | 17.5 |
The five graded Florida towns closest to Sarasota’s population (58,458), 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 Sarasota. 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 Sarasota’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (58,428 in 2025); our figure for Sarasota is 58,458 (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 Sarasota
Is Sarasota, FL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Sarasota reports more crime per resident than 59% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #59 of 128 in Florida. Its police reported 3.1 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 Sarasota?
3.1 violent and 10.1 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.
Is crime going up or down in Sarasota?
Reported crime per resident rose from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Sarasota in 2025?
Sarasota’s police reported 2 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 3.4 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Sarasota?
Sarasota’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Sarasota”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Sarasota.
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.