Photo: Nyttend · Public domainOn property crime, Prestonsburg has a lower rate per resident than 78% of U.S. towns
Typical years here bring 1.5 violent crimes plus 5.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 3.2 plus 21.8 in the rest of Kentucky. In sum, crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025 put Prestonsburg at B+ (#34 of 115 graded towns in Kentucky): less crime per resident than 71% of U.S. towns.
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 Prestonsburg
A college town
Prestonsburg is home to Big Sandy Community and Technical College, with 1,455 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 3% 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
Prestonsburg has 5,923 jobs based in town for 3,618 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Prestonsburg’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 | Prestonsburg | Rest of Kentucky | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.3 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.9 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.2 | 3.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Prestonsburg’s police reported 16 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.5 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 Prestonsburg 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 2 violent crimes, 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 | Prestonsburg property | Rest of Kentucky property | Prestonsburg violent | Rest of Kentucky violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 10.2 | 19.9 | 1.7 | 1.8 |
| 2023 | 7.0 | 24.2 | 0.3 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 3.0 | 21.3 | 1.9 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 5.9 | 19.9 | 2.2 | 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.
29 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.
8 violent and 21 property, as reported to the FBI by Prestonsburg’s police.
13 people died in crashes on Prestonsburg’s roads in 2019–2023
Prestonsburg had 12 fatal crashes in five years, in which 13 people died; 2 were pedestrians.
That is 69.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Kentucky towns of 2,500–5,000 people (7.3, 58 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.
Prestonsburg and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prestonsburg | B+ | 1.5 | 5.3 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Kentucky towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prestonsburg | B+ | 1.5 | 5.3 |
| Beaver Dam | A | 0.6 | 3.7 |
| Stanford | A− | 0.9 | 4.1 |
| Southgate | B+ | 0.9 | 7.6 |
| Russell | B+ | 1.1 | 8.3 |
| Grayson | C+ | 2.0 | 14.0 |
The five graded Kentucky towns closest to Prestonsburg’s population (3,618), 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 Prestonsburg. 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 Prestonsburg’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (3,575 in 2025); our figure for Prestonsburg is 3,618 (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 Prestonsburg
Is Prestonsburg, KY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Prestonsburg reports less crime per resident than 71% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #34 of 115 in Kentucky. Its police reported 1.5 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 Prestonsburg?
1.5 violent and 5.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Kentucky reports 3.2 and 21.8; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Prestonsburg?
Prestonsburg’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Prestonsburg”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Prestonsburg.
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.