McCarty Subdivision Historic District · Photo: GamblinMonkey · Public domainReported crime per resident in Dalton fell 31% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, Dalton grades C for safety (#64 of 132 graded towns in Georgia): more crime per resident than 69% 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 GA” is every other Georgia 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 Dalton
Among Georgia towns, closer to the middle
Georgia’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Dalton’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 52% of the 132 Georgia towns we grade, against 31% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Dalton is home to Dalton State College, with 4,265 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 6% 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
Dalton has 34,623 jobs based in town for 35,322 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 Dalton’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. Its violent rate (2.3) 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.
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 Georgia.
Show as a table
| Year | Dalton property | Rest of Georgia property | Dalton violent | Rest of Georgia violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 24.7 | 24.7 | 3.7 | 5.0 |
| 2023 | 22.4 | 25.4 | 2.2 | 4.5 |
| 2024 | 19.0 | 21.5 | 2.4 | 3.8 |
| 2025 | 14.9 | 18.1 | 2.2 | 3.5 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Dalton’s police reported 237 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.3 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.9 in the rest of Georgia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Dalton | Rest of Georgia | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.7 | 5.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.2 | 4.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.4 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.2 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 15 property crimes reported
And about 2 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.
600 crimes reported in 2025
77 violent and 523 property, as reported to the FBI by Dalton’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
22 people died in crashes on Dalton’s roads in 2019–2023
Dalton had 21 fatal crashes in five years, in which 22 people died; 7 were pedestrians. 4 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 12.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Georgia towns of 25,000–100,000 people (7.9, 40 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.
Dalton and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dalton | C | 2.3 | 18.7 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Georgia towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dalton | C | 2.3 | 18.7 |
| Duluth | B− | 1.6 | 10.9 |
| Statesboro | C− | 3.4 | 20.3 |
| Stockbridge | C− | 3.8 | 20.4 |
| Hinesville | D | 6.9 | 22.9 |
| LaGrange | D− | 6.4 | 41.4 |
The five graded Georgia towns closest to Dalton’s population (35,322), 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 Dalton. 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 Dalton’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (35,108 in 2025); our figure for Dalton is 35,322 (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 Dalton
Is Dalton, GA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Dalton reports more crime per resident than 69% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #64 of 132 in Georgia. Its police reported 2.3 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.9 in the rest of Georgia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Dalton?
2.3 violent and 18.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Georgia reports 3.9 and 21.5; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Dalton?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Dalton in 2025?
Dalton’s police reported 4 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 11.4 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Dalton?
Dalton’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Dalton”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Dalton.
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.