Photo: Carol M. Highsmith · Public domainColumbus reports less crime per resident than 88% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Columbus’ police in 2023–2025, it grades A for safety: #10 of 91 graded towns in Indiana.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of IN” is every other Indiana 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 Columbus
A job center
Columbus has 42,734 jobs based in town for 52,655 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Reported crime is rising
Crime reported per resident rose 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 Columbus’ 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 lower than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Reported crime is rising
Reported crime per resident rose from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2023–2025, against the rest of Indiana.
Show as a table
| Year | Columbus property | Rest of Indiana property | Columbus violent | Rest of Indiana violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.1 | 22.5 | 0.2 | 5.0 |
| 2024 | 0.8 | 20.5 | 0.1 | 4.6 |
| 2025 | 12.1 | 15.0 | 0.8 | 3.5 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Columbus’ police reported 58 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.4 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.4 in the rest of Indiana and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Columbus | Rest of Indiana | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 0.2 | 5.0 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.1 | 4.6 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.8 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 12 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, 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.
676 crimes reported in 2025
41 violent and 635 property, as reported to the FBI by Columbus’ police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
25 people died in crashes on Columbus’s roads in 2019–2023
Columbus had 25 fatal crashes in five years, in which 25 people died; 7 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist. 5 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 9.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Indiana towns of 25,000–100,000 people (8.1, 86 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.
Columbus and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Columbus | A | 0.4 | 4.7 |
| Harrison Township | — | — | — |
| German Township | — | — | — |
| Clay Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Harrison Township, German Township and Clay Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
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 Columbus. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Columbus’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (52,346 in 2025); our figure for Columbus is 52,655 (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 Columbus
Is Columbus, IN safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Columbus reports less crime per resident than 88% of U.S. towns, an A Safety Grade and #10 of 91 in Indiana. Its police reported 0.4 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.4 in the rest of Indiana and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Columbus?
0.4 violent and 4.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Indiana reports 4.4 and 19.3; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Columbus?
Reported crime per resident rose from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Columbus in 2025?
Columbus’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Columbus?
Columbus’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Columbus”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Columbus.
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.