Whitesburg Historic District · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainWhitesburg sees less crime per resident than 97% of U.S. towns
It has less violent crime than 95% of U.S. towns, and less property crime than 96%. Scored on crimes Whitesburg’s police reported across 2023 to 2025, the town lands on A+ for safety. On top of that, typical years here bring 0.2 violent crime plus 1.6 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 3.2 plus 21.8 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 Whitesburg
A job center
Whitesburg has 2,794 jobs based in town for 1,609 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 Whitesburg’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 | Whitesburg | Rest of Kentucky | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.0 | 1.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.0 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.6 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.0 | 3.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Whitesburg’s police reported 1 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.2 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 Whitesburg 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 no 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 | Whitesburg property | Rest of Kentucky property | Whitesburg violent | Rest of Kentucky violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.0 | 19.9 | 0.0 | 1.8 |
| 2023 | 1.2 | 24.2 | 0.0 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 3.1 | 21.2 | 0.6 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 0.6 | 19.9 | 0.0 | 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.
1 crime 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.
0 violent and 1 property, as reported to the FBI by Whitesburg’s police.
Four people died in crashes on Whitesburg’s roads in 2019–2023
Whitesburg had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which four people died.
That is more than is typical for Kentucky towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (7.3 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Whitesburg’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Whitesburg’s own rate (45.4) 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.
Whitesburg and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whitesburg | A+ | 0.2 | 1.6 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Kentucky towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whitesburg | A+ | 0.2 | 1.6 |
| Pewee Valley | A+ | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Sturgis | A+ | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Owingsville | A− | 0.6 | 5.0 |
| Coal Run Village | B+ | 0.0 | 12.6 |
| Pineville | B | 1.1 | 10.1 |
The five graded Kentucky towns closest to Whitesburg’s population (1,609), 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 Whitesburg. 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 Whitesburg’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (1,592 in 2025); our figure for Whitesburg is 1,609 (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 Whitesburg
Is Whitesburg, KY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Whitesburg reports less crime per resident than 97% of U.S. towns, an A+ Safety Grade. Its police reported 0.2 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 Whitesburg?
0.2 violent and 1.6 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.
Who polices Whitesburg?
Whitesburg’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Whitesburg”. 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 Whitesburg.
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.