Muller's Department Store · Photo: CTtcg · CC BY-SA 4.0Recorded crime per resident is higher in Lake Charles than in 91% of U.S. towns
It has more violent crime than 93% of U.S. towns, and more property crime than 87%. What’s more, its Safety Grade is D, on crimes Lake Charles’ police reported from 2023 to 2025: #24 of 46 graded towns in Louisiana. The graded rate fell 14% from 2023 to 2025. Violence and property crime split as 6.4 violent crimes and 26.0 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 9.0 and 37.5 in the rest of Louisiana.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of LA” is every other Louisiana 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 Lake Charles
Among Louisiana towns, closer to the middle
Louisiana’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Lake Charles’ place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 48% of the 46 Louisiana towns we grade, against 9% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
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 Lake Charles’ 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; property crime is the closer of the two to typical.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Lake Charles property | Rest of Louisiana property | Lake Charles violent | Rest of Louisiana violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 31.1 | 43.3 | 6.3 | 10.3 |
| 2023 | 29.4 | 43.9 | 6.4 | 9.5 |
| 2024 | 24.7 | 35.3 | 6.1 | 9.1 |
| 2025 | 24.0 | 30.1 | 6.6 | 8.3 |
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 Louisiana.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Lake Charles | Rest of Louisiana | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.3 | 10.3 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 6.4 | 9.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 6.1 | 9.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 6.6 | 8.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Lake Charles’ police reported 1,497 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 6.4 per 1,000 residents a year, against 9.0 in the rest of Louisiana and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Lake Charles 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 7 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
2,463 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.
533 violent and 1,930 property, as reported to the FBI by Lake Charles’ police.
46 people died in crashes on Lake Charles’s roads in 2019–2023
Lake Charles had 46 fatal crashes in five years, in which 46 people died; 13 were pedestrians and 2 were cyclists. 5 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 11.3 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for Louisiana towns of 25,000–100,000 people (11.3, 11 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.
Lake Charles and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Charles | D | 6.4 | 26.0 |
| Prien | — | — | — |
| Moss Bluff | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Prien and Moss Bluff are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
Louisiana towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Charles | D | 6.4 | 26.0 |
| Kenner | C− | 3.2 | 26.9 |
| Bossier City | D− | 8.4 | 38.4 |
| Lafayette | D− | 10.0 | 41.3 |
| Monroe | D− | 18.8 | 56.5 |
| Alexandria | D− | 23.8 | 62.6 |
The five graded Louisiana towns closest to Lake Charles’ population (82,676), 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 Lake Charles. 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 Lake Charles’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (80,280 in 2025); our figure for Lake Charles is 82,676 (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 Lake Charles
Is Lake Charles, LA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Lake Charles reports more crime per resident than 91% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #24 of 46 in Louisiana. Its police reported 6.4 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 9.0 in the rest of Louisiana and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Lake Charles?
6.4 violent and 26.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Louisiana reports 9.0 and 37.5; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Lake Charles in 2025?
Lake Charles’s police reported 14 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 17.4 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Lake Charles?
Lake Charles’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Lake Charles”. 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 Lake Charles.
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.