Photo: Corey Graese · CC BY-SA 4.0Ashland reports more crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Ashland’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C− for safety: #100 of 115 graded towns in Kentucky.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of KY” is every other Kentucky 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 Ashland
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 2 Kentucky towns on Ashland’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Catlettsburg (A−). Westwood is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Neighbors ↓
A job center
Ashland has 14,661 jobs based in town for 20,996 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 Ashland’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; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (2.1) 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.
Reported crime is falling
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 Kentucky.
Show as a table
| Year | Ashland property | Rest of Kentucky property | Ashland violent | Rest of Kentucky violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 24.7 | 19.8 | 1.9 | 1.8 |
| 2023 | 28.7 | 24.2 | 1.9 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 25.0 | 21.2 | 2.0 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 20.0 | 19.9 | 2.4 | 3.1 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Ashland’s police reported 133 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.1 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.2 in the rest of Kentucky and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Ashland | Rest of Kentucky | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.9 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.0 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 20 property crimes reported
And about 2 violent crimes, 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.
468 crimes reported in 2025
50 violent and 418 property, as reported to the FBI by Ashland’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Six people died in crashes on Ashland’s roads in 2019–2023
Ashland had 5 fatal crashes in five years, in which six people died.
That is about what is typical for Kentucky towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (8.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Ashland’s size would see about 9 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Ashland’s own rate (5.6) 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.
Ashland and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashland | C− | 2.1 | 24.6 |
| Westwood | — | — | — |
| Catlettsburg | A− | 0.6 | 5.4 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Westwood is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
Kentucky towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashland | C− | 2.1 | 24.6 |
| Mount Washington | A | 0.4 | 5.1 |
| Erlanger | A− | 0.9 | 4.3 |
| Madisonville | B+ | 1.2 | 6.4 |
| Radcliff | C | 2.3 | 18.8 |
| Winchester | C− | 2.0 | 26.8 |
The five graded Kentucky towns closest to Ashland’s population (20,996), by grade.
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 Ashland. 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 Ashland’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (20,937 in 2025); our figure for Ashland is 20,996 (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 Ashland
Is Ashland, KY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Ashland reports more crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #100 of 115 in Kentucky. Its police reported 2.1 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.2 in the rest of Kentucky and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Ashland?
2.1 violent and 24.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Kentucky reports 3.2 and 21.7; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Ashland?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Ashland safer than Catlettsburg?
Catlettsburg reports less crime per resident than Ashland: Catlettsburg grades A− for safety and Ashland C−. Catlettsburg’s police reported 0.6 violent and 5.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Ashland?
Ashland’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Ashland”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Ashland.
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.