Photo: Unknown professional photographer paid by the Clay County Commissioners · CC BY-SA 4.0On violent crime, Clay Center has a higher rate per resident than 64% of U.S. towns
Violence and property crime split as 2.4 violent crimes and 12.6 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 4.8 and 22.4 in the rest of Kansas. Its letter overall is C+ (#33 of 80 graded towns in Kansas): close to the middle of U.S. towns, from crimes its police reported through 2023 to 2025.
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 Clay Center
Among Kansas towns, closer to the middle
Kansas’ cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Clay Center’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 59% of the 80 Kansas towns we grade, against 42% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Clay Center’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. 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 (12.6) 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 | Clay Center | Rest of Kansas | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.4 | 4.8 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.2 | 4.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.5 | 5.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Clay Center’s police reported 29 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 Clay Center 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 | Clay Center property | Rest of Kansas property | Clay Center violent | Rest of Kansas violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 19.2 | 24.3 | 4.9 | 5.0 |
| 2023 | 16.4 | 24.2 | 3.4 | 4.8 |
| 2024 | 11.6 | 20.2 | 1.2 | 4.1 |
| 2025 | 9.7 | 22.8 | 2.5 | 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.
49 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.
10 violent and 39 property, as reported to the FBI by Clay Center’s police.
One person died in crashes on Clay Center’s roads in 2019–2023
Clay Center had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died; 1 was a pedestrian.
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 Clay Center’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Clay Center’s own rate (4.8) 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.
Clay Center and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clay Center | C+ | 2.4 | 12.6 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Kansas towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clay Center | C+ | 2.4 | 12.6 |
| Lindsborg | A | 0.8 | 2.2 |
| Rose Hill | B | 1.3 | 9.1 |
| Scott City | B | 3.0 | 3.5 |
| Goodland | C+ | 2.7 | 11.3 |
| Baxter Springs | C+ | 2.4 | 14.7 |
The five graded Kansas towns closest to Clay Center’s population (4,061), 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 Clay Center. 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 Clay Center’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (4,038 in 2025); our figure for Clay Center is 4,061 (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 Clay Center
Is Clay Center, KS safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Clay Center reports more crime per resident than 58% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #33 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 Clay Center?
2.4 violent and 12.6 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 Clay Center?
Clay Center’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Clay Center”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Clay Center.
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.