Photo: Dennisyerger84 · CC BY-SA 3.0Valparaiso has less violent crime per resident than two in three U.S. towns
On crimes Valparaiso’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades B+ for safety: #31 of 91 graded towns in Indiana. The local count comes to 1.0 violent crime and 8.6 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 4.3 and 19.2 in the rest of 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 Valparaiso
A job center
Valparaiso has 23,446 jobs based in town for 35,177 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 Valparaiso’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 lower than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Valparaiso | Rest of Indiana | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.1 | 4.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.1 | 4.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.7 | 4.6 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.2 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Valparaiso’s police reported 103 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.3 in the rest of Indiana and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Valparaiso 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 1 violent crime, 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 | Valparaiso property | Rest of Indiana property | Valparaiso violent | Rest of Indiana violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 8.3 | 23.3 | 1.1 | 4.8 |
| 2023 | 9.6 | 22.3 | 1.1 | 4.9 |
| 2024 | 8.1 | 20.3 | 0.7 | 4.6 |
| 2025 | 8.2 | 15.1 | 1.2 | 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 Indiana.
334 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.
43 violent and 291 property, as reported to the FBI by Valparaiso’s police.
Three people died in crashes on Valparaiso’s roads in 2019–2023
Valparaiso had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which three people died.
That is fewer than is typical for Indiana towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (8.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Valparaiso’s size would see about 14 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Valparaiso’s own rate (1.7) 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.
Valparaiso and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valparaiso | B+ | 1.0 | 8.6 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Indiana towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valparaiso | B+ | 1.0 | 8.6 |
| Zionsville | A+ | 0.3 | 2.7 |
| Crown Point | A− | 0.7 | 5.0 |
| Brownsburg | A− | 0.6 | 6.8 |
| Goshen | C | 2.1 | 22.5 |
| New Albany | C− | 2.8 | 25.1 |
The five graded Indiana towns closest to Valparaiso’s population (35,177), 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 Valparaiso. 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 Valparaiso’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (35,293 in 2025); our figure for Valparaiso is 35,177 (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 Valparaiso
Is Valparaiso, IN safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Valparaiso reports less crime per resident than 66% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #31 of 91 in Indiana. Its police reported 1.0 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 Valparaiso?
1.0 violent and 8.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Indiana reports 4.3 and 19.2; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Valparaiso in 2025?
Valparaiso’s police reported 1 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 Valparaiso?
Valparaiso’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Valparaiso”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Valparaiso.
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.