Photo: Farragutful · CC BY-SA 4.0Paducah sees more property crime per resident than 88% of U.S. towns
Per resident, the graded crimes were down 19% from 2023 to 2025. Overall, Paducah grades C− for safety (#104 of 115 graded towns in Kentucky): more crime per resident than 82% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Behind the grade sit 2.9 violent crimes and 26.8 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 3.2 and 21.7 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 Paducah
A college town
Paducah is home to West Kentucky Community and Technical College, with 3,769 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 5% 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
Paducah has 29,099 jobs based in town for 26,730 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 Paducah’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 (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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Paducah property | Rest of Kentucky property | Paducah violent | Rest of Kentucky violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 30.3 | 19.7 | 2.7 | 1.8 |
| 2023 | 28.8 | 24.1 | 3.3 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 27.9 | 21.2 | 2.7 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 23.5 | 19.8 | 2.7 | 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 Paducah 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 3 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 | Paducah | Rest of Kentucky | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.7 | 1.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.7 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Paducah’s police reported 234 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.
697 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.
73 violent and 624 property, as reported to the FBI by Paducah’s police.
12 people died in crashes on Paducah’s roads in 2019–2023
Paducah had 12 fatal crashes in five years, in which 12 people died; 2 were pedestrians. 4 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 8.9 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.
Paducah and its neighbors
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Hendron, Massac and Farley are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
Kentucky towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paducah | C− | 2.9 | 26.8 |
| Independence | A | 0.5 | 3.3 |
| Frankfort | C | 2.2 | 17.8 |
| Jeffersontown | C | 0.9 | 23.8 |
| Henderson | C | 3.0 | 18.1 |
| Hopkinsville | C− | 3.6 | 25.8 |
The five graded Kentucky towns closest to Paducah’s population (26,730), 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 Paducah. 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 Paducah’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (26,608 in 2025); our figure for Paducah is 26,730 (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 Paducah
Is Paducah, KY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Paducah reports more crime per resident than 82% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #104 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 Paducah?
2.9 violent and 26.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Kentucky reports 3.2 and 21.7; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Paducah in 2025?
Paducah’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 3.8 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Paducah?
Paducah’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Paducah”. 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 Paducah.
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.