Photo: W.marsh · CC BY-SA 3.0Reported crime per resident in Morehead fell 38% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, Morehead grades C+ for safety (#85 of 115 graded towns in Kentucky): close to the middle 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 Morehead
Among Kentucky towns, lower
Kentucky’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Morehead’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 26% of the 115 Kentucky towns we grade, against 41% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Morehead is home to Morehead State University, with 7,507 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 50% 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
Morehead has 7,179 jobs based in town for 6,776 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 Morehead’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 (1.7) 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 (15.6) 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 | Morehead property | Rest of Kentucky property | Morehead violent | Rest of Kentucky violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 17.8 | 19.9 | 2.4 | 1.8 |
| 2023 | 21.1 | 24.2 | 2.0 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 13.6 | 21.2 | 1.1 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 12.2 | 19.9 | 2.1 | 3.1 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Morehead’s police reported 34 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.7 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 | Morehead | Rest of Kentucky | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.4 | 1.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.0 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.1 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.1 | 3.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 12 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.
96 crimes reported in 2025
14 violent and 82 property, as reported to the FBI by Morehead’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Four people died in crashes on Morehead’s roads in 2019–2023
Morehead had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which four people died; 2 were pedestrians. 1 died in crash on an Interstate.
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 Morehead’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Morehead’s own rate (11.6) 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.
Morehead and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morehead | C+ | 1.7 | 15.6 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Kentucky towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morehead | C+ | 1.7 | 15.6 |
| Vine Grove | A | 0.6 | 3.3 |
| Lebanon | B | 1.4 | 10.3 |
| Leitchfield | B− | 1.2 | 12.0 |
| Cynthiana | B− | 1.4 | 13.4 |
| Cold Spring | B− | 0.8 | 16.9 |
The five graded Kentucky towns closest to Morehead’s population (6,776), 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 Morehead. 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 Morehead’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (6,701 in 2025); our figure for Morehead is 6,776 (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 Morehead
Is Morehead, KY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Morehead reports more crime per resident than 59% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #85 of 115 in Kentucky. Its police reported 1.7 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 Morehead?
1.7 violent and 15.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Kentucky reports 3.2 and 21.8; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Morehead?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Who polices Morehead?
Morehead’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Morehead”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Morehead.
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.