Photo: Nick Allen · CC BY-SA 4.0Fitchburg sees more violent crime per resident than 88% of U.S. towns
All 5 towns next door with figures record less crime per resident. Overall, Fitchburg grades C for safety (#258 of 276 graded towns in Massachusetts): more crime per resident than 75% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported in 2023–2025. Add to that, the graded rate rose 25% from 2023 to 2025. Its police logs show 4.9 violent crimes and 12.6 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the rest of Massachusetts the numbers are 3.0 and 10.3.
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 Fitchburg
5 of the 5 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 5 Massachusetts towns on Fitchburg’s borders, 5 have a Safety Grade: Ashby (A−), Ashburnham (A−), Lunenburg (B+), Westminster (B), Leominster (C). Neighbors ↓
Among Massachusetts towns, lower
Massachusetts’ cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Fitchburg’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 7% of the 276 Massachusetts towns we grade, against 25% 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 Fitchburg’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; property crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its property rate (12.6) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Fitchburg property | Rest of Massachusetts property | Fitchburg violent | Rest of Massachusetts violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.4 | 10.5 | 4.5 | 3.2 |
| 2023 | 10.4 | 10.9 | 4.7 | 3.1 |
| 2024 | 13.4 | 10.3 | 4.9 | 3.0 |
| 2025 | 13.8 | 9.8 | 5.1 | 2.9 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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.
Crime in Fitchburg 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 5 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 | Fitchburg | Rest of Massachusetts | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.5 | 3.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.7 | 3.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.9 | 3.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 5.1 | 2.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Fitchburg’s police reported 616 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.0 in the rest of Massachusetts and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
797 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.
216 violent and 581 property, as reported to the FBI by Fitchburg’s police.
Six people died in crashes on Fitchburg’s roads in 2019–2023
Fitchburg had 6 fatal crashes in five years, in which six people died; 2 were pedestrians.
That is about what is typical for Massachusetts towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (4.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Fitchburg’s size would see about 8 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Fitchburg’s own rate (2.9) 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.
Fitchburg and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fitchburg | C | 4.9 | 12.6 |
| Leominster | C | 4.6 | 12.1 |
| Westminster | B | 2.3 | 4.5 |
| Lunenburg | B+ | 0.9 | 9.3 |
| Ashby | A− | 1.0 | 3.9 |
| Ashburnham | A− | 1.4 | 4.3 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Massachusetts towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fitchburg | C | 4.9 | 12.6 |
| Billerica | A− | 0.9 | 3.8 |
| Amherst Town | A− | 1.4 | 3.1 |
| Beverly | B+ | 1.6 | 4.8 |
| Marlborough | C | 4.2 | 10.5 |
| Pittsfield | C− | 5.8 | 11.6 |
The five graded Massachusetts towns closest to Fitchburg’s population (42,136), 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 Fitchburg. 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 Fitchburg’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (42,153 in 2025); our figure for Fitchburg is 42,136 (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 Fitchburg
Is Fitchburg, MA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Fitchburg reports more crime per resident than 75% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #258 of 276 in Massachusetts. Its police reported 4.9 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 Fitchburg?
4.9 violent and 12.6 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 Fitchburg in 2025?
Fitchburg’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 Fitchburg safer than Leominster?
Leominster reports less crime per resident than Fitchburg: Leominster grades C for safety and Fitchburg C. Leominster’s police reported 4.6 violent and 12.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Fitchburg?
Fitchburg’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Fitchburg”. 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 Fitchburg.
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.