Adair County Courthouse · Photo: W.marsh · CC BY-SA 3.0Columbia has less property crime per resident than 95% of U.S. towns
Weighing it all, Columbia earns A for safety (#8 of 115 graded towns in Kentucky), with less crime per resident than 88% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported over 2023 to 2025. What’s more, the yearly rates were 1.0 violent crime and 1.9 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 3.2 and 21.8 in the rest of 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 Columbia
A college town
Columbia is home to Lindsey Wilson College, with 3,301 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 29% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
A job center
Columbia has 3,039 jobs based in town for 4,680 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 Columbia’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; property crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Columbia | Rest of Kentucky | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.4 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.8 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.9 | 3.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Columbia’s police reported 15 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.2 in the rest of Kentucky and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Columbia 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 | Columbia property | Rest of Kentucky property | Columbia violent | Rest of Kentucky violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.6 | 19.9 | 1.0 | 1.8 |
| 2023 | 1.6 | 24.2 | 1.4 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 1.2 | 21.3 | 0.8 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 2.8 | 19.9 | 0.9 | 3.1 |
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 Kentucky.
17 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.
4 violent and 13 property, as reported to the FBI by Columbia’s police.
Two people died in crashes on Columbia’s roads in 2019–2023
Columbia had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died.
That is about what is typical for Kentucky towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (7.3 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Columbia’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Columbia’s own rate (8.3) 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.
Columbia and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia | A | 1.0 | 1.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Kentucky towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia | A | 1.0 | 1.9 |
| Prospect | A | 0.1 | 6.5 |
| Benton | B | 0.4 | 12.8 |
| Ludlow | B | 1.2 | 9.4 |
| Scottsville | B− | 1.6 | 10.8 |
| Hazard | B− | 2.2 | 9.3 |
The five graded Kentucky towns closest to Columbia’s population (4,680), 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 Columbia. 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 Columbia’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (4,650 in 2025); our figure for Columbia is 4,680 (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 Columbia
Is Columbia, KY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Columbia reports less crime per resident than 88% of U.S. towns, an A Safety Grade and #8 of 115 in Kentucky. Its police reported 1.0 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 Columbia?
1.0 violent and 1.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Kentucky reports 3.2 and 21.8; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Columbia?
Columbia’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Columbia”. 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 Columbia.
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.