Photo: Polka Dots and Pastries · CC BY 2.0Reported crime per resident in Ponchatoula fell 59% from 2023 to 2025
Violent crime here is higher than in 83% of U.S. towns; property crime, higher than in 83%. Out of every 1,000 residents, 4.2 violent crimes and 23.9 incidents of property crime are reported annually, against 8.9 and 36.8 in the rest of Louisiana. The overall Safety Grade is C− (#20 of 46 graded towns in Louisiana), which means more crime per resident than 84% of U.S. towns, judged on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025.
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 Ponchatoula
Ponchatoula reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 1 Louisiana towns on Ponchatoula’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Hammond (D−). Neighbors ↓
Among Louisiana towns, closer to the middle
Louisiana’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Ponchatoula’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 57% of the 46 Louisiana towns we grade, against 16% 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 Ponchatoula’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 higher than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Ponchatoula property | Rest of Louisiana property | Ponchatoula violent | Rest of Louisiana violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 37.0 | 42.7 | 6.3 | 10.1 |
| 2023 | 36.6 | 43.2 | 5.6 | 9.4 |
| 2024 | 19.8 | 34.6 | 4.5 | 8.9 |
| 2025 | 14.9 | 29.7 | 2.5 | 8.2 |
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 Ponchatoula 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 3 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Ponchatoula | Rest of Louisiana | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.3 | 10.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 5.6 | 9.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.5 | 8.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.5 | 8.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Ponchatoula’s police reported 98 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.2 per 1,000 residents a year, against 8.9 in the rest of Louisiana and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
134 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.
19 violent and 115 property, as reported to the FBI by Ponchatoula’s police.
One person died in crashes on Ponchatoula’s roads in 2019–2023
Ponchatoula had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
That is about what is typical for Louisiana towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (10.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Ponchatoula’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Ponchatoula’s own rate (2.6) 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.
Ponchatoula and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ponchatoula | C− | 4.2 | 23.9 |
| Hammond | D− | 6.8 | 54.3 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Louisiana towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ponchatoula | C− | 4.2 | 23.9 |
| Addis | A− | 0.8 | 5.9 |
| Harahan | B+ | 1.3 | 7.5 |
| Westwego | C− | 4.6 | 17.7 |
| Jennings | D− | 9.9 | 37.1 |
| Bastrop | D− | 11.8 | 48.7 |
The five graded Louisiana towns closest to Ponchatoula’s population (7,755), 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 Ponchatoula. 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 Ponchatoula’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (7,712 in 2025); our figure for Ponchatoula is 7,755 (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 Ponchatoula
Is Ponchatoula, LA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Ponchatoula reports more crime per resident than 84% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #20 of 46 in Louisiana. Its police reported 4.2 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 8.9 in the rest of Louisiana and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Ponchatoula?
4.2 violent and 23.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Louisiana reports 8.9 and 36.8; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is Ponchatoula safer than Hammond?
Hammond reports more crime per resident than Ponchatoula: Hammond grades D− for safety and Ponchatoula C−. Hammond’s police reported 6.8 violent and 54.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Ponchatoula?
Ponchatoula’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Ponchatoula”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Ponchatoula.
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.