Crime in Thunderbolt sits close to the middle of U.S. towns
The overall Safety Grade is C+ (#44 of 132 graded towns in Georgia), which means close to the middle of U.S. towns, judged on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. By contrast, its police logs show 2.0 violent crimes and 13.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the rest of Georgia the numbers are 3.9 and 21.5.
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 Thunderbolt
Among Georgia towns, closer to the middle
Georgia’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Thunderbolt’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 67% of the 132 Georgia towns we grade, against 44% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Thunderbolt’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 (2.0) 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. Its property rate (13.4) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) 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
Show as a table
| Year | Thunderbolt | Rest of Georgia | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.5 | 4.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.0 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.4 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Thunderbolt’s police reported 15 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.9 in the rest of Georgia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Thunderbolt 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 2 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Thunderbolt property | Rest of Georgia property | Thunderbolt violent | Rest of Georgia violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 20.7 | 24.7 | 4.8 | 4.9 |
| 2023 | 15.3 | 25.4 | 3.5 | 4.4 |
| 2024 | 5.1 | 21.5 | 0.0 | 3.8 |
| 2025 | 19.7 | 18.0 | 2.4 | 3.5 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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.
56 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.
6 violent and 50 property, as reported to the FBI by Thunderbolt’s police.
No one died in a crash on Thunderbolt’s roads in 2019–2023
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 Thunderbolt’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Thunderbolt’s own rate (0.0) 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.
Thunderbolt and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderbolt | C+ | 2.0 | 13.4 |
| Whitemarsh Island | — | — | — |
| Savannah | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Whitemarsh Island is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Savannah reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023.
Georgia towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderbolt | C+ | 2.0 | 13.4 |
| Brooklet | A | 0.2 | 3.5 |
| Sylvania | B+ | 0.9 | 8.5 |
| Homerville | B | 1.9 | 7.3 |
| Lithonia | C | 3.0 | 18.8 |
| Claxton | D | 6.5 | 37.4 |
The five graded Georgia towns closest to Thunderbolt’s population (2,534), 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 Thunderbolt. 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 Thunderbolt’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (2,532 in 2025); our figure for Thunderbolt is 2,534 (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 Thunderbolt
Is Thunderbolt, GA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Thunderbolt reports more crime per resident than 56% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #44 of 132 in Georgia. Its police reported 2.0 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 Thunderbolt?
2.0 violent and 13.4 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.
Who polices Thunderbolt?
Thunderbolt’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Thunderbolt”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Thunderbolt.
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.