Photo: EEJCC · CC BY-SA 4.0Reported crime per resident in Covington fell 23% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, Covington grades C for safety (#93 of 115 graded towns in Kentucky): more crime per resident than 69% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
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 Covington
7 of the 8 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 8 Kentucky towns on Covington’s borders, 8 have a Safety Grade: Independence (A), Taylor Mill (A), Fort Wright (A−), Erlanger (A−), Park Hills (A−), Wilder (B+), Ludlow (B), Newport (D). Neighbors ↓
Among Kentucky towns, lower
Kentucky’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Covington’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 19% of the 115 Kentucky towns we grade, against 31% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
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 Covington’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 (2.9) 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 (16.4) 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.
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 | Covington property | Rest of Kentucky property | Covington violent | Rest of Kentucky violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 17.5 | 19.9 | 2.7 | 1.8 |
| 2023 | 18.9 | 24.3 | 3.0 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 16.3 | 21.3 | 2.9 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 13.9 | 20.0 | 2.8 | 3.1 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 14 property crimes reported
And about 3 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Covington’s police reported 358 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.9 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 | Covington | Rest of Kentucky | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.7 | 1.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.0 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.9 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
700 crimes reported in 2025
119 violent and 581 property, as reported to the FBI by Covington’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
14 people died in crashes on Covington’s roads in 2019–2023
Covington had 12 fatal crashes in five years, in which 14 people died; 4 were pedestrians. 4 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 6.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for Kentucky towns of 25,000–100,000 people (7.8, 14 towns).
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.
Covington and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Covington | C | 2.9 | 16.4 |
| Taylor Mill | A | 0.5 | 3.7 |
| Fort Wright | A− | 0.7 | 4.9 |
| Ludlow | B | 1.2 | 9.4 |
| Park Hills | A− | 1.4 | 3.9 |
| Wilder | B+ | 1.2 | 7.1 |
| Erlanger | A− | 0.9 | 4.3 |
| Independence | A | 0.5 | 3.3 |
| Newport | D | 2.8 | 37.2 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Kentucky towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Covington | C | 2.9 | 16.4 |
| Elizabethtown | B+ | 1.3 | 7.5 |
| Georgetown | B− | 1.4 | 11.8 |
| Nicholasville | C+ | 1.4 | 15.5 |
| Richmond | C | 2.3 | 20.0 |
| Florence | C− | 1.9 | 33.1 |
The five graded Kentucky towns closest to Covington’s population (41,847), 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 Covington. 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 Covington’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (41,781 in 2025); our figure for Covington is 41,847 (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 Covington
Is Covington, KY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Covington reports more crime per resident than 69% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #93 of 115 in Kentucky. Its police reported 2.9 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 Covington?
2.9 violent and 16.4 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.
Is crime going up or down in Covington?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Covington in 2025?
Covington’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Covington safer than Taylor Mill?
Taylor Mill reports less crime per resident than Covington: Taylor Mill grades A for safety and Covington C. Taylor Mill’s police reported 0.5 violent and 3.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Covington?
Covington’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Covington”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Covington.
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.