Photo: W.marsh · CC BY-SA 3.0Recorded crime per resident is lower in Harlan than in 66% of U.S. towns
Counting crimes Harlan’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades B+ for safety. Behind the grade sit 1.3 violent crimes and 7.5 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 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’s behind Harlan’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 | Harlan | Rest of Kentucky | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.5 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.6 | 3.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Harlan’s police reported 7 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.3 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 Harlan 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 | Harlan property | Rest of Kentucky property | Harlan violent | Rest of Kentucky violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 16.7 | 19.9 | 1.8 | 1.8 |
| 2023 | 10.3 | 24.2 | 0.5 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 6.6 | 21.2 | 2.8 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 5.6 | 19.9 | 0.6 | 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.
11 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.
1 violent and 10 property, as reported to the FBI by Harlan’s police.
No one died in a crash on Harlan’s roads in 2019–2023
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 Harlan’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Harlan’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.
Harlan and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harlan | B+ | 1.3 | 7.5 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Kentucky towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harlan | B+ | 1.3 | 7.5 |
| Lebanon Junction | A+ | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Lewisport | A+ | 0.4 | 2.3 |
| Cumberland | A | 0.7 | 2.8 |
| Jamestown | A− | 0.2 | 7.8 |
| Warsaw | B | 0.9 | 9.5 |
The five graded Kentucky towns closest to Harlan’s population (1,822), 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 Harlan. 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 Harlan’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (1,796 in 2025); our figure for Harlan is 1,822 (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 Harlan
Is Harlan, KY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Harlan reports less crime per resident than 66% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade. Its police reported 1.3 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 Harlan?
1.3 violent and 7.5 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 Harlan?
Harlan’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Harlan”. 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 Harlan.
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.