Ridgeway · Photo: Jack Boucher · Public domainPer resident, St. Matthews records more crime than nine in ten U.S. towns
Violent crime is lower than in 57% of U.S. towns; property crime, lower than in only 2%. It grades D for safety on crimes St. Matthews’ police reported from 2023 to 2025. Behind the grade sit 1.4 violent crimes and 48.5 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 3.2 and 21.6 in the rest of Kentucky. Per resident, the graded rate barely moved from 2023 to 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 St. Matthews
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 4 Kentucky towns on St. Matthews’ borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Lyndon (C−). Beechwood Village, Graymoor-Devondale and Windy Hills have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
A job center
St. Matthews has 25,601 jobs based in town for 17,868 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 St. Matthews’ grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds St. Matthews’ grade up; property crime pulls it down.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | St. Matthews | Rest of Kentucky | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.2 | 1.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.4 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.3 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.5 | 3.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
St. Matthews’ police reported 73 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.4 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 St. Matthews 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 | St. Matthews property | Rest of Kentucky property | St. Matthews violent | Rest of Kentucky violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 47.2 | 19.6 | 1.2 | 1.8 |
| 2023 | 48.4 | 24.0 | 1.4 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 51.0 | 21.0 | 1.3 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 46.1 | 19.7 | 1.5 | 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.
850 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.
26 violent and 824 property, as reported to the FBI by St. Matthews’ police.
Four people died in crashes on St. Matthews’s roads in 2019–2023
St. Matthews 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 St. Matthews’s size would see about 7 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so St. Matthews’s own rate (4.6) 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.
St. Matthews and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Matthews | D | 1.4 | 48.5 |
| Beechwood Village | — | — | — |
| Graymoor-Devondale | — | — | — |
| Windy Hills | — | — | — |
| Lyndon | C− | 1.5 | 26.2 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Beechwood Village, Graymoor-Devondale and Windy Hills have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Kentucky towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Matthews | D | 1.4 | 48.5 |
| Mount Washington | A | 0.4 | 5.1 |
| Fort Thomas | A | 0.5 | 4.9 |
| Shelbyville | B | 1.0 | 9.7 |
| Danville | B | 1.2 | 11.4 |
| Murray | B− | 1.0 | 13.5 |
The five graded Kentucky towns closest to St. Matthews’ population (17,868), 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 St. Matthews. 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 St. Matthews’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (17,868 in 2025); our figure for St. Matthews is 17,868 (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 St. Matthews
Is St. Matthews, KY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, St. Matthews reports more crime per resident than 92% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade. Its police reported 1.4 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 St. Matthews?
1.4 violent and 48.5 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.
Is St. Matthews safer than Lyndon?
Lyndon reports less crime per resident than St. Matthews: Lyndon grades C− for safety and St. Matthews D. Lyndon’s police reported 1.5 violent and 26.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices St. Matthews?
St. Matthews’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “St. Matthews”. 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 St. Matthews.
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.