Baxter Springs Independent Oil and Gas Service Station · Photo: Vanessa Ezekowitz · CC BY-SA 3.0Baxter Springs sees more violent crime per resident than two in three U.S. towns
On crimes reported by Baxter Springs’ police in 2023–2025, it grades C+ for safety: #41 of 80 graded towns in Kansas. Per 1,000 residents a year, 2.4 violent crimes and 14.7 incidents of property crime were recorded, against 4.8 and 22.4 in the rest of Kansas.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of KS” is every other Kansas 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 Baxter Springs
Among Kansas towns, closer to the middle
Kansas’ cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Baxter Springs’ place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 49% of the 80 Kansas towns we grade, against 37% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Baxter Springs’ 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. Its violent rate (2.4) 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 (14.7) 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 | Baxter Springs | Rest of Kansas | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.8 | 5.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.8 | 4.8 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.4 | 4.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.1 | 5.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Baxter Springs’ police reported 28 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.4 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.8 in the rest of Kansas and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Baxter Springs 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 3 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 | Baxter Springs property | Rest of Kansas property | Baxter Springs violent | Rest of Kansas violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 17.0 | 24.4 | 1.8 | 5.0 |
| 2023 | 20.7 | 24.2 | 1.8 | 4.8 |
| 2024 | 17.6 | 20.2 | 2.4 | 4.1 |
| 2025 | 5.7 | 22.8 | 3.1 | 5.5 |
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 Kansas.
34 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.
12 violent and 22 property, as reported to the FBI by Baxter Springs’ police.
No one died in a crash on Baxter Springs’s roads in 2019–2023
That is about what is typical for Kansas towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (6.2 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Baxter Springs’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Baxter Springs’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.
Baxter Springs and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter Springs | C+ | 2.4 | 14.7 |
| Spring Valley Township | — | — | — |
| Garden Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Spring Valley Township and Garden Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Kansas towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter Springs | C+ | 2.4 | 14.7 |
| Lindsborg | A | 0.8 | 2.2 |
| Scott City | B | 3.0 | 3.5 |
| Mission Hills | B− | 0.9 | 13.5 |
| Clay Center | C+ | 2.4 | 12.6 |
| Larned | C | 4.1 | 12.6 |
The five graded Kansas towns closest to Baxter Springs’ population (3,823), 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 Baxter Springs. 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 Baxter Springs’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (3,835 in 2025); our figure for Baxter Springs is 3,823 (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 Baxter Springs
Is Baxter Springs, KS safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Baxter Springs reports more crime per resident than 63% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #41 of 80 in Kansas. Its police reported 2.4 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.8 in the rest of Kansas and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Baxter Springs?
2.4 violent and 14.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Kansas reports 4.8 and 22.4; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Baxter Springs?
Baxter Springs’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Baxter Springs”. 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 Baxter Springs.
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.