Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0South Bay records more crime per resident than nine in ten U.S. towns
It has more violent crime than 96% of U.S. towns, and more property crime than 73%. A Safety Grade of D follows from crimes South Bay’s police reported over the years 2023 to 2025: #116 of 128 graded towns in Florida. Recorded violent crimes ran at 8.5 per 1,000 residents a year and property crime at 17.9, against 3.4 and 17.2 in the rest of Florida. The graded rate fell 53% 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 South Bay
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 South Bay’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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | South Bay property | Rest of Florida property | South Bay violent | Rest of Florida violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 14.4 | 22.1 | 9.7 | 4.4 |
| 2023 | 23.3 | 19.2 | 9.8 | 3.6 |
| 2024 | 21.5 | 18.4 | 10.0 | 3.5 |
| 2025 | 9.6 | 14.3 | 6.0 | 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, 2022–2025, against the rest of Florida.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | South Bay | Rest of Florida | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 9.7 | 4.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 9.8 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 10.0 | 3.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 6.0 | 3.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
South Bay’s police reported 128 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 8.5 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 South Bay 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 6 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
81 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.
31 violent and 50 property, as reported to the FBI by South Bay’s police.
Eight people died in crashes on South Bay’s roads in 2019–2023
South Bay had 8 fatal crashes in five years, in which eight people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is more than is typical for Florida towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (11.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of South Bay’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so South Bay’s own rate (31.4) 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.
South Bay and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Bay | D | 8.5 | 17.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Florida towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Bay | D | 8.5 | 17.9 |
| Fellsmere | A− | 0.9 | 5.1 |
| Flagler Beach | B | 2.1 | 7.5 |
| Kenneth City | B | 1.5 | 10.7 |
| South Pasadena | C+ | 1.2 | 16.2 |
| Parker | C | 2.4 | 20.1 |
The five graded Florida towns closest to South Bay’s population (5,140), 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 South Bay. 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 South Bay’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (5,202 in 2025); our figure for South Bay is 5,140 (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 South Bay
Is South Bay, FL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, South Bay reports more crime per resident than 91% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #116 of 128 in Florida. Its police reported 8.5 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 South Bay?
8.5 violent and 17.9 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.
Who polices South Bay?
South Bay’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “South Bay”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in South Bay.
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.