Photo: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0Crime per resident in Merrimac runs lower than in 95% of U.S. towns
None of the 3 towns next door with figures records less crime per resident. Merrimac’s letter for safety is A+, worked out from crimes its police reported over 2023 to 2025: #9 of 276 graded towns in Massachusetts. On top of that, each year brought 0.2 violent crime and 2.9 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (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 Merrimac
Merrimac reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 3 Massachusetts towns on Merrimac’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: West Newbury (A), Amesbury (B+), Haverhill (C+). Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Merrimac’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 | Merrimac | Rest of Massachusetts | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.5 | 3.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.1 | 3.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.1 | 3.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.4 | 2.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Merrimac’s police reported 5 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.2 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 Merrimac 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 fewer than 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 | Merrimac property | Rest of Massachusetts property | Merrimac violent | Rest of Massachusetts violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.0 | 10.5 | 1.5 | 3.2 |
| 2023 | 3.4 | 10.9 | 0.1 | 3.1 |
| 2024 | 2.2 | 10.3 | 0.1 | 3.0 |
| 2025 | 3.1 | 9.8 | 0.4 | 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.
24 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.
3 violent and 21 property, as reported to the FBI by Merrimac’s police.
Four people died in crashes on Merrimac’s roads in 2019–2023
Merrimac had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which four people died; 1 was a cyclist. Most of these deaths (2 of 4) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
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 Merrimac’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Merrimac’s own rate (11.9) 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.
Merrimac and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merrimac | A+ | 0.2 | 2.9 |
| West Newbury | A | 0.4 | 2.8 |
| Amesbury | B+ | 1.4 | 5.8 |
| Haverhill | C+ | 4.2 | 8.1 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Massachusetts towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merrimac | A+ | 0.2 | 2.9 |
| Lincoln | A+ | 0.0 | 2.4 |
| Berkley | A | 1.1 | 2.2 |
| Chatham | A− | 1.0 | 5.3 |
| Mattapoisett | A− | 1.4 | 4.1 |
| Newbury | B+ | 1.5 | 4.3 |
The five graded Massachusetts towns closest to Merrimac’s population (6,818), 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 Merrimac. 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 Merrimac’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (6,814 in 2025); our figure for Merrimac is 6,818 (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 Merrimac
Is Merrimac, MA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Merrimac reports less crime per resident than 95% of U.S. towns, an A+ Safety Grade and #9 of 276 in Massachusetts. Its police reported 0.2 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 Merrimac?
0.2 violent and 2.9 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 Merrimac safer than West Newbury?
West Newbury reports more crime per resident than Merrimac: West Newbury grades A for safety and Merrimac A+. West Newbury’s police reported 0.4 violent and 2.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Merrimac?
Merrimac’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Merrimac”. 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 Merrimac.
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.