Photo: Smallbones · Public domainOn property crime, Owensboro has a higher rate per resident than 89% of U.S. towns
On the record of crimes Owensboro’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it takes D for safety: #111 of 115 graded towns in Kentucky. The graded rate fell 22% from 2023 to 2025. Typical years here bring 3.7 violent crimes plus 28.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 3.2 plus 21.6 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 Owensboro
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 Owensboro’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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Owensboro property | Rest of Kentucky property | Owensboro violent | Rest of Kentucky violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 34.6 | 19.4 | 3.7 | 1.7 |
| 2023 | 32.4 | 24.0 | 3.1 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 29.2 | 21.0 | 3.5 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 23.4 | 19.8 | 4.4 | 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.
Crime in Owensboro 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 4 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Owensboro | Rest of Kentucky | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.7 | 1.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.4 | 3.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Owensboro’s police reported 665 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.7 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.2 in the rest of Kentucky and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
1,690 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.
268 violent and 1,422 property, as reported to the FBI by Owensboro’s police.
25 people died in crashes on Owensboro’s roads in 2019–2023
Owensboro had 25 fatal crashes in five years, in which 25 people died; 3 were pedestrians and 3 were cyclists.
That is 8.3 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.
Owensboro and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owensboro | D | 3.7 | 28.3 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Kentucky towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owensboro | D | 3.7 | 28.3 |
| Elizabethtown | B+ | 1.3 | 7.5 |
| Georgetown | B− | 1.4 | 11.8 |
| Covington | C | 2.9 | 16.4 |
| Richmond | C | 2.3 | 20.0 |
| Bowling Green | C− | 2.1 | 27.0 |
The five graded Kentucky towns closest to Owensboro’s population (60,892), 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 Owensboro. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Owensboro’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (60,774 in 2025); our figure for Owensboro is 60,892 (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 Owensboro
Is Owensboro, KY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Owensboro reports more crime per resident than 86% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #111 of 115 in Kentucky. Its police reported 3.7 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 Owensboro?
3.7 violent and 28.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Kentucky reports 3.2 and 21.6; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Owensboro in 2025?
Owensboro’s police reported 3 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 4.9 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Owensboro?
Owensboro’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Owensboro”. 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 Owensboro.
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.