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New Orleans from the Air September 2019 - Central Business District Skyline (cropped)Photo: George Bannister · CC BY 2.0
Safety in New Orleans · Not graded

No grade for New Orleans, but its recorded crime is here

A 25-mile circle around it holds 6 towns with a grade. New Orleans’ police reported to the FBI for 2023 but not 2024 or 2025, so there is no Safety Grade: the grade needs all three years, 2023–2025. Gretna, 12 miles away, is the nearest town with a Safety Grade (D).

Violent crimes
4,957
reported to the FBI, 2023
Property crimes
18,536
reported to the FBI, 2023
Nearest graded town
12 mi
Gretna (D)
1,000 neighbors · one year

For every 1,000 residents, about 51 property crimes reported

Property crime (50.9)Violent crime (13.6)Everyone else

Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2023

New Orleans13.6
Rest of LA8.1
U.S. (FBI)3.9

Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2023

New Orleans50.9
Rest of LA40.9
U.S. (FBI)19.5

Crimes reported to police in 2023 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.

And about 14 violent crimes, in 2023. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.

By year

The years New Orleans’ police reported

Show as a table
YearNew OrleansRest of LouisianaNew OrleansRest of Louisiana
202246.441.514.48.7
202350.940.913.68.1
2024not reported34.5not reported8.9
2025not reported29.6not reported8.2

Crimes per 1,000 residents

Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents, against the rest of Louisiana. A year the department didn’t report in full is a gap, not a zero.

What gets reported

23,493 crimes reported in 2023

2023 offenses reported

Larceny / theft10,091
Burglary1,742
Vehicle theft6,703
Aggravated assault3,427
Robbery656
Rape681
Homicide193
4,957
violent crimes
18,536
property crimes

Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.

4,957 violent and 18,536 property, as reported to the FBI by New Orleans’ police.

Nearest with figures

The nearest Louisiana towns with a Safety Grade

TownGradeDistanceViolentProperty
GretnaD12 mi4.034.7
WestwegoC−16 mi4.617.7
HarahanB+18 mi1.37.5
SlidellC−19 mi2.824.0
KennerC−19 mi3.226.9
MandevilleB−25 mi1.313.3

Straight-line distance from the center of New Orleans. Nearby towns can differ a lot from New Orleans.

Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.

On the roads

296 people died in crashes on New Orleans’s roads in 2019–2023

New Orleans had 280 fatal crashes in five years, in which 296 people died; 93 were pedestrians and 29 were cyclists. 92 died in crashes on an Interstate.

That is 15.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for Louisiana towns of 100,000+ people (14.9, 5 towns).

296
people died in crashes, 2019–2023
93
pedestrians among them
29
cyclists among them
15.9
per 100,000 a year · Louisiana towns of 100,000+: 14.9

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.

Next door

New Orleans and its neighbors

A rangeB rangeC rangeD rangeNot graded
TownGradeViolentProperty
GretnaD4.034.7
Meraux———
Marrero———
Metairie———
Terrytown———
Arabi———
Chalmette———
Jefferson———

Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Meraux, Marrero, Metairie, Terrytown, Arabi, Chalmette and Jefferson are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.

How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.

How to read these numbers

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 New Orleans. 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 New Orleans’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
  • Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (364,197 in 2023); our figure for New Orleans is 362,154 (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 New Orleans

Is New Orleans, LA safe?

There is no Safety Grade for New Orleans. The nearest Louisiana towns with a grade are Gretna (D, 12 mi), Westwego (C−, 16 mi), Harahan (B+, 18 mi).

Who polices New Orleans?

New Orleans’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “New Orleans”. 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 New Orleans.

Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2023, 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.