Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 4.0Dawson reports less property crime than most U.S. towns, but more violent crime
Overall, Dawson grades C+ for safety (#56 of 132 graded towns in Georgia): more crime per resident than 62% 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 Dawson
Among Georgia towns, closer to the middle
Georgia’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Dawson’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 58% of the 132 Georgia towns we grade, against 38% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Dawson’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Dawson’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down.
For every 1,000 residents, about 5 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
Dawson’s police reported 51 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.1 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 | Dawson | Rest of Georgia | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.0 | 4.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.4 | 4.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.8 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.1 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Reported crime is steady
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Georgia.
Show as a table
| Year | Dawson property | Rest of Georgia property | Dawson violent | Rest of Georgia violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 10.9 | 24.7 | 4.0 | 4.9 |
| 2023 | 7.3 | 25.4 | 3.4 | 4.4 |
| 2024 | 10.1 | 21.5 | 4.8 | 3.8 |
| 2025 | 5.3 | 18.0 | 4.1 | 3.5 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
39 crimes reported in 2025
17 violent and 22 property, as reported to the FBI by Dawson’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Two people died in crashes on Dawson’s roads in 2019–2023
Dawson had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is about what is typical for Georgia towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (10.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Dawson’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Dawson’s own rate (9.4) 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.
Dawson and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dawson | C+ | 4.1 | 7.6 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Georgia towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dawson | C+ | 4.1 | 7.6 |
| Euharlee | B+ | 1.3 | 6.2 |
| Hephzibah | B− | 1.3 | 14.4 |
| Summerville | C+ | 2.0 | 14.3 |
| Metter | C− | 3.0 | 20.7 |
| Hazlehurst | D | 5.2 | 32.7 |
The five graded Georgia towns closest to Dawson’s population (4,131), 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 Dawson. 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 Dawson’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (4,133 in 2025); our figure for Dawson is 4,131 (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 Dawson
Is Dawson, GA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Dawson reports more crime per resident than 62% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #56 of 132 in Georgia. Its police reported 4.1 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 Dawson?
4.1 violent and 7.6 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 Dawson?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Who polices Dawson?
Dawson’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Dawson”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Dawson.
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.