Unknown Confederate Soldier Monument in Horse Cave · Photo: The original uploader was Bedford at English Wikipedia. · Public domainRecorded crime per resident in Horse Cave fell 87% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, it grades A− for safety. On top of that, typical years here bring 0.9 violent crime plus 4.7 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 3.2 plus 21.8 in the rest of Kentucky. Violent crime here is lower than in 72% of U.S. towns; property crime, lower than in 81%.
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 Horse Cave
A job center
Horse Cave has 2,948 jobs based in town for 2,276 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 Horse Cave’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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Horse Cave property | Rest of Kentucky property | Horse Cave violent | Rest of Kentucky violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.3 | 19.9 | 1.3 | 1.8 |
| 2023 | 11.1 | 24.2 | 2.2 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 1.8 | 21.2 | 0.0 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 1.3 | 19.9 | 0.4 | 3.1 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Horse Cave | Rest of Kentucky | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.2 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.0 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.4 | 3.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Horse Cave’s police reported 6 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.9 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 Horse Cave 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 fewer than 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
4 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 3 property, as reported to the FBI by Horse Cave’s police.
Two people died in crashes on Horse Cave’s roads in 2019–2023
Horse Cave had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died. Most of these deaths (1 of 2) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
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 Horse Cave’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Horse Cave’s own rate (18.7) 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.
Horse Cave and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horse Cave | A− | 0.9 | 4.7 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Kentucky towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horse Cave | A− | 0.9 | 4.7 |
| Raceland | A− | 0.9 | 3.9 |
| Hickman | A− | 1.3 | 3.9 |
| Irvine | A− | 1.0 | 5.6 |
| Dry Ridge | B | 0.2 | 15.7 |
| Fulton | C− | 1.9 | 34.3 |
The five graded Kentucky towns closest to Horse Cave’s population (2,276), 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 Horse Cave. 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 Horse Cave’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (2,283 in 2025); our figure for Horse Cave is 2,276 (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 Horse Cave
Is Horse Cave, KY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Horse Cave reports less crime per resident than 80% of U.S. towns, an A− Safety Grade. Its police reported 0.9 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 Horse Cave?
0.9 violent and 4.7 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 Horse Cave?
Horse Cave’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Horse Cave”. 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 Horse Cave.
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.