Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0Bellingham sits close to the middle of U.S. towns for reported crime
Overall, Bellingham grades B− for safety (#200 of 276 graded towns in Massachusetts): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of MA” is every other Massachusetts 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 Bellingham
6 of the 7 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 7 Massachusetts towns on Bellingham’s borders, 7 have a Safety Grade: Medway (A), Blackstone (A), Franklin Town (A), Hopedale (A−), Mendon (A−), Milford (B−), Wrentham (C+). Neighbors ↓
Among Massachusetts towns, lower
Massachusetts’ cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Bellingham’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 28% of the 276 Massachusetts towns we grade, against 48% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Reported crime is rising
Crime reported per resident rose 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 Bellingham’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Bellingham’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down. Its violent rate (2.3) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Bellingham’s police reported 123 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.3 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.0 in the rest of Massachusetts and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Bellingham | Rest of Massachusetts | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.7 | 3.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.7 | 3.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.2 | 3.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Reported crime is rising
Reported crime per resident rose from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Massachusetts.
Show as a table
| Year | Bellingham property | Rest of Massachusetts property | Bellingham violent | Rest of Massachusetts violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 9.7 | 10.5 | 1.7 | 3.2 |
| 2023 | 10.6 | 10.9 | 1.7 | 3.1 |
| 2024 | 10.4 | 10.3 | 2.2 | 3.0 |
| 2025 | 10.3 | 9.8 | 3.0 | 2.9 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 10 property crimes reported
And about 3 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
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.
242 crimes reported in 2025
54 violent and 188 property, as reported to the FBI by Bellingham’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Six people died in crashes on Bellingham’s roads in 2019–2023
Bellingham had 6 fatal crashes in five years, in which six people died; 1 was a pedestrian. 2 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is about what is typical for Massachusetts towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (5.2 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Bellingham’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Bellingham’s own rate (6.9) 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.
Bellingham and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bellingham | B− | 2.3 | 10.4 |
| Mendon | A− | 1.1 | 3.8 |
| Hopedale | A− | 1.3 | 2.8 |
| Blackstone | A | 1.0 | 1.6 |
| Franklin Town | A | 0.9 | 2.4 |
| Medway | A | 0.6 | 3.1 |
| Milford | B− | 2.5 | 7.5 |
| Wrentham | C+ | 1.3 | 18.6 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Massachusetts towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bellingham | B− | 2.3 | 10.4 |
| Concord | A− | 0.8 | 5.5 |
| Rockland | B | 2.4 | 3.6 |
| South Hadley | B | 1.7 | 7.1 |
| Southbridge Town | C+ | 3.7 | 9.5 |
| Webster | C | 5.9 | 8.0 |
The five graded Massachusetts towns closest to Bellingham’s population (18,032), by grade.
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 Bellingham. 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 Bellingham’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (18,222 in 2025); our figure for Bellingham is 18,032 (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 Bellingham
Is Bellingham, MA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Bellingham reports more crime per resident than 52% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #200 of 276 in Massachusetts. Its police reported 2.3 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.0 in the rest of Massachusetts and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Bellingham?
2.3 violent and 10.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Massachusetts reports 3.0 and 10.3; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Bellingham?
Reported crime per resident rose from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Bellingham safer than Mendon?
Mendon reports less crime per resident than Bellingham: Mendon grades A− for safety and Bellingham B−. Mendon’s police reported 1.1 violent and 3.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Bellingham?
Bellingham’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Bellingham”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Bellingham.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
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.