Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Lowell reports more crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Lowell’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C− for safety: #263 of 276 graded towns in Massachusetts, and #151 of 325 U.S. cities over 100,000.
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 Lowell
3 of the 3 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 4 Massachusetts towns on Lowell’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Dracut (B+), Chelmsford (B), Tewksbury (B−). Tyngsborough has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Among Massachusetts towns, lower
Massachusetts’ cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Lowell’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 5% of the 276 Massachusetts towns we grade, against 19% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Homicides: below U.S. cities overall
Lowell’s police reported 2 homicides to the FBI in 2025. Over 2023–2025 that is 2.6 per 100,000 residents a year, above the rest of Massachusetts (1.7) and below all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (5.7). Violent crime ↓
Robberies: 1.8 times the rest of Massachusetts
61.1 robberies per 100,000 residents a year over 2023–2025 (86 reported in 2025), 1.8 times the rest of Massachusetts (33.6) and below all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (79.4). Violent crime ↓
Against other big cities
Among the 325 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, Lowell reports less crime per resident than 54% (#151). Places like 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 Lowell’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 (16.4) 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 is falling
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 Massachusetts.
Show as a table
| Year | Lowell property | Rest of Massachusetts property | Lowell violent | Rest of Massachusetts violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 17.5 | 10.3 | 4.0 | 3.2 |
| 2023 | 19.0 | 10.8 | 4.5 | 3.1 |
| 2024 | 16.6 | 10.2 | 5.3 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 13.8 | 9.7 | 5.0 | 2.8 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Homicides and robberies
Lowell’s police reported 2 homicides, 86 robberies and 612 violent crimes in all to the FBI in 2025. By year, against the rest of Massachusetts and all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables.
Show as a table
| Year | Lowell | Rest of Massachusetts | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.3 | 2.1 | 7.7 |
| 2023 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 6.8 |
| 2024 | 4.3 | 1.8 | 5.7 |
| 2025 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 4.6 |
Homicides per 100,000 residents
Show as a table
| Year | Lowell | Rest of Massachusetts | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 63.6 | 37.6 | 95.5 |
| 2023 | 54.8 | 35.9 | 90.6 |
| 2024 | 56.9 | 33.4 | 81.9 |
| 2025 | 70.9 | 31.5 | 66.0 |
Robberies per 100,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 14 property crimes reported
And about 5 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.
2,291 crimes reported in 2025
612 violent and 1,679 property, as reported to the FBI by Lowell’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
26 people died in crashes on Lowell’s roads in 2019–2023
Lowell had 25 fatal crashes in five years, in which 26 people died; 10 were pedestrians. 1 died in crash on an Interstate.
That is 4.4 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for Massachusetts towns of 100,000+ people (4.3, 9 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.
Lowell and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lowell | C− | 5.0 | 16.4 |
| Chelmsford | B | 1.2 | 10.2 |
| Tewksbury | B− | 2.6 | 9.5 |
| Tyngsborough | — | — | — |
| Dracut | B+ | 1.7 | 6.0 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Tyngsborough has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
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 Lowell. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Lowell’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (121,283 in 2025); our figure for Lowell is 119,971 (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 Lowell
Is Lowell, MA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Lowell reports more crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #263 of 276 in Massachusetts. Its police reported 5.0 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 Lowell?
5.0 violent and 16.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Massachusetts reports 3.0 and 10.2; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Lowell?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Lowell in 2025?
Lowell’s police reported 2 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 1.6 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Lowell safer than Chelmsford?
Chelmsford reports less crime per resident than Lowell: Chelmsford grades B for safety and Lowell C−. Chelmsford’s police reported 1.2 violent and 10.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Lowell?
Lowell’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Lowell”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Lowell.
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.