Photo: Z28scrambler · CC BY-SA 3.0Opelousas has more crime per resident than almost every U.S. town
The rate the grade counts dropped 19% from 2023 to 2025. Still, on the record of crimes Opelousas’ police reported from 2023 to 2025, it takes D− for safety: #41 of 46 graded towns in Louisiana. In a usual year, 14.8 violent crimes and 51.3 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the rest of Louisiana, 8.8 and 36.6. Violent crime here is higher than in 99% of U.S. towns; property crime, higher than in 98%.
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 Opelousas
A job center
Opelousas has 9,923 jobs based in town for 15,098 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
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 Opelousas’ 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Opelousas | Rest of Louisiana | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 21.8 | 10.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 16.8 | 9.3 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 13.7 | 8.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 14.0 | 8.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Opelousas’ police reported 677 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 14.8 per 1,000 residents a year, against 8.8 in the rest of Louisiana and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Opelousas property | Rest of Louisiana property | Opelousas violent | Rest of Louisiana violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 61.8 | 42.5 | 21.8 | 10.0 |
| 2023 | 57.6 | 43.1 | 16.8 | 9.3 |
| 2024 | 50.2 | 34.3 | 13.7 | 8.8 |
| 2025 | 46.1 | 29.4 | 14.0 | 8.1 |
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.
Crime in Opelousas 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 14 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
903 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.
210 violent and 693 property, as reported to the FBI by Opelousas’ police.
10 people died in crashes on Opelousas’s roads in 2019–2023
Opelousas had 9 fatal crashes in five years, in which 10 people died; 4 were pedestrians.
That is 12.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Louisiana towns of 5,000–25,000 people (10.9, 80 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.
Opelousas and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opelousas | D− | 14.8 | 51.3 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Louisiana towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opelousas | D− | 14.8 | 51.3 |
| Mandeville | B− | 1.3 | 13.3 |
| Broussard | C | 1.9 | 19.7 |
| Thibodaux | C− | 3.0 | 26.1 |
| Gretna | D | 4.0 | 34.7 |
| Gonzales | D | 5.2 | 40.3 |
The five graded Louisiana towns closest to Opelousas’ population (15,098), 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 Opelousas. 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 Opelousas’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (15,031 in 2025); our figure for Opelousas is 15,098 (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 Opelousas
Is Opelousas, LA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Opelousas reports more crime per resident than 99% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade and #41 of 46 in Louisiana. Its police reported 14.8 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 8.8 in the rest of Louisiana and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Opelousas?
14.8 violent and 51.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Louisiana reports 8.8 and 36.6; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Opelousas?
Opelousas’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Opelousas”. 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 Opelousas.
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.