Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0For violent crime, Chelmsford beats 61% of U.S. towns per resident
Chelmsford grades B for safety overall (#172 of 276 graded towns in Massachusetts): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Even so, 3 of the 4 towns next door with figures record less crime per resident. Behind the grade sit 1.2 violent crimes and 10.2 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 3.0 and 10.3 in the rest of Massachusetts.
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 Chelmsford
3 of the 4 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 5 Massachusetts towns on Chelmsford’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Westford (A), Carlisle (A), Billerica (A−), Lowell (C−). Tyngsborough has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Among Massachusetts towns, closer to the middle
Massachusetts’ cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Chelmsford’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 38% of the 276 Massachusetts towns we grade, against 58% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Chelmsford’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 lower than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Chelmsford | Rest of Massachusetts | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.1 | 3.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.1 | 3.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.2 | 3.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.3 | 2.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Chelmsford’s police reported 135 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.2 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.0 in the rest of Massachusetts and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Chelmsford 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 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Chelmsford property | Rest of Massachusetts property | Chelmsford violent | Rest of Massachusetts violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.3 | 10.5 | 1.1 | 3.2 |
| 2023 | 9.7 | 10.9 | 1.1 | 3.1 |
| 2024 | 11.3 | 10.3 | 1.2 | 3.0 |
| 2025 | 9.6 | 9.8 | 1.3 | 2.9 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Massachusetts.
406 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.
49 violent and 357 property, as reported to the FBI by Chelmsford’s police.
16 people died in crashes on Chelmsford’s roads in 2019–2023
Chelmsford had 15 fatal crashes in five years, in which 16 people died. Most of these deaths (10 of 16) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
That is 8.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Massachusetts towns of 25,000–100,000 people (4.0, 86 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.
Chelmsford and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chelmsford | B | 1.2 | 10.2 |
| Tyngsborough | — | — | — |
| Lowell | C− | 5.0 | 16.4 |
| Billerica | A− | 0.9 | 3.8 |
| Westford | A | 0.5 | 2.7 |
| Carlisle | A | 0.6 | 2.4 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Tyngsborough has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Massachusetts towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chelmsford | B | 1.2 | 10.2 |
| Shrewsbury | A− | 0.5 | 6.2 |
| Andover | A− | 0.7 | 6.1 |
| Braintree Town | C+ | 2.8 | 13.3 |
| Chelsea | D | 9.1 | 14.9 |
| Holyoke | D− | 11.1 | 41.3 |
The five graded Massachusetts towns closest to Chelmsford’s population (38,549), 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 Chelmsford. 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 Chelmsford’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (37,003 in 2025); our figure for Chelmsford is 38,549 (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 Chelmsford
Is Chelmsford, MA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Chelmsford reports less crime per resident than 58% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #172 of 276 in Massachusetts. Its police reported 1.2 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 Chelmsford?
1.2 violent and 10.2 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.
How many homicides were there in Chelmsford in 2025?
Chelmsford’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Chelmsford safer than Lowell?
Lowell reports more crime per resident than Chelmsford: Lowell grades C− for safety and Chelmsford B. Lowell’s police reported 5.0 violent and 16.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Chelmsford?
Chelmsford’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Chelmsford”. 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 Chelmsford.
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.