Park Mary Historic District · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainMore violent crime is recorded per resident in Lafayette than in 88% of U.S. towns
For every 1,000 residents, 5.0 violent crimes and 19.4 incidents of property crime were logged a year; in the rest of Indiana, the figures are 4.3 and 19.1. Counting crimes Lafayette’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades C− for safety: #80 of 91 graded towns in Indiana. The rate the grade counts dropped 22% from 2023 to 2025.
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 Lafayette
A job center
Lafayette has 59,682 jobs based in town for 71,238 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 Lafayette’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; property crime is the closer of the two to typical.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Lafayette property | Rest of Indiana property | Lafayette violent | Rest of Indiana violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 21.9 | 23.2 | 5.9 | 4.8 |
| 2023 | 21.3 | 22.2 | 5.1 | 4.9 |
| 2024 | 20.4 | 20.2 | 6.0 | 4.6 |
| 2025 | 16.6 | 15.0 | 4.0 | 3.5 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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 Indiana.
Crime in Lafayette 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 4 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Lafayette | Rest of Indiana | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.9 | 4.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 5.1 | 4.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 6.0 | 4.6 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Lafayette’s police reported 1,076 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 5.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.3 in the rest of Indiana and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
1,477 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.
285 violent and 1,192 property, as reported to the FBI by Lafayette’s police.
21 people died in crashes on Lafayette’s roads in 2019–2023
Lafayette had 21 fatal crashes in five years, in which 21 people died; 7 were pedestrians. 2 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 5.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, below 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.
Lafayette and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lafayette | C− | 5.0 | 19.4 |
| Shadeland | — | — | — |
| Union Township | — | — | — |
| Wea Township | — | — | — |
| Fairfield Township | — | — | — |
| Dayton | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Shadeland, Union Township, Wea Township and Fairfield Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Dayton reported to the FBI for 2024 but not 2023 or 2025.
Indiana towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lafayette | C− | 5.0 | 19.4 |
| Noblesville | A− | 0.9 | 5.2 |
| Westfield | A− | 0.6 | 6.3 |
| Greenwood | C+ | 1.2 | 17.0 |
| Hammond | D | 6.6 | 29.8 |
| Gary | D− | 12.1 | 30.5 |
The five graded Indiana towns closest to Lafayette’s population (71,238), 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 Lafayette. 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 Lafayette’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (72,009 in 2025); our figure for Lafayette is 71,238 (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 Lafayette
Is Lafayette, IN safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Lafayette reports more crime per resident than 83% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #80 of 91 in Indiana. Its police reported 5.0 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.3 in the rest of Indiana and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Lafayette?
5.0 violent and 19.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Indiana reports 4.3 and 19.1; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Lafayette in 2025?
Lafayette’s police reported 2 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 2.8 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Lafayette?
Lafayette’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Lafayette”. 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 Lafayette.
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.