First African Baptist Church and Parsonage · Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 3.0Waycross reports more crime per resident than 97% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Waycross’ police in 2023–2025, it grades D− for safety: #125 of 132 graded towns in Georgia.
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 Waycross
A college town
Waycross is home to Coastal Pines Technical College, with 3,170 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 4% 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
Waycross has 10,168 jobs based in town for 13,936 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Waycross’ 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Waycross’ police reported 317 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 7.7 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 | Waycross | Rest of Georgia | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 8.9 | 4.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 6.4 | 4.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 10.3 | 3.7 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 6.5 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 40 property crimes reported
And about 7 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 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 | Waycross property | Rest of Georgia property | Waycross violent | Rest of Georgia violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 45.4 | 24.6 | 8.9 | 4.9 |
| 2023 | 48.6 | 25.3 | 6.4 | 4.4 |
| 2024 | 50.3 | 21.4 | 10.3 | 3.7 |
| 2025 | 40.2 | 18.0 | 6.5 | 3.5 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
636 crimes reported in 2025
89 violent and 547 property, as reported to the FBI by Waycross’ police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
11 people died in crashes on Waycross’s roads in 2019–2023
Waycross had 10 fatal crashes in five years, in which 11 people died; 3 were pedestrians.
That is 16.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Georgia towns of 5,000–25,000 people (11.0, 121 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.
Waycross and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Sunnyside and Deenwood are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
Georgia towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waycross | D− | 7.7 | 46.4 |
| Flowery Branch | B | 0.9 | 10.4 |
| Locust Grove | C− | 2.7 | 28.1 |
| Clarkston | D | 6.1 | 21.9 |
| Bainbridge | D | 5.7 | 29.5 |
| College Park | D− | 14.9 | 71.8 |
The five graded Georgia towns closest to Waycross’ population (13,936), 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 Waycross. 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 Waycross’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (13,608 in 2025); our figure for Waycross is 13,936 (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 Waycross
Is Waycross, GA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Waycross reports more crime per resident than 97% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade and #125 of 132 in Georgia. Its police reported 7.7 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 Waycross?
7.7 violent and 46.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Georgia reports 3.9 and 21.4; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Waycross?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Who polices Waycross?
Waycross’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Waycross”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Waycross.
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.