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Town Hall, Montague MAPhoto: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0
C+
Safety in Montague · FBI data, 2023–2025

Montague reports less property crime than most U.S. towns, but more violent crime

Overall, Montague grades C+ for safety (#242 of 276 graded towns in Massachusetts): more crime per resident than 64% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.

Violent crime
4.5
per 1,000 a year · Well above rest of MA (3.0)
U.S. (FBI national estimate) 3.6
Property crime
6.7
per 1,000 a year · Well below rest of MA (10.3)
U.S. (FBI national estimate) 17.6
Crimes reported
283
113 violent · 170 property
2023–2025
Trend
▼ Falling
2023 to 2025
beyond ordinary swings

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 · In brief

What stands out about safety in Montague

4 of the 5 graded towns next door report less crime

Of the 5 Massachusetts towns on Montague’s borders, 5 have a Safety Grade: Erving (A−), Sunderland (B+), Gill (B+), Deerfield (B), Greenfield (C−). Neighbors ↓

Among Massachusetts towns, lower

Massachusetts’ cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Montague’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 12% of the 276 Massachusetts towns we grade, against 36% nationally. Safety Grade ↓

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.

Safety Grade

What’s behind Montague’s grade

Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Montague’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down.

Where Montague sits
C− Violent 4.5B+ Property 6.7
All U.S. towns we grade (7,426)Less crime than 36%
More reported crimeLess reported crime
Massachusetts towns we grade (276)Less crime than 12% · #242 of 276
Places of 5,000–25,000 people (3,282)Less crime than 35%
A fairly firm grade. Built on 283 reported crimes over three years. Ordinary swings could put Montague anywhere from C to C+.

How TownRatings grades safety →

Trend

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
YearMontague propertyRest of Massachusetts propertyMontague violentRest of Massachusetts violent
20227.810.55.93.2
20239.010.95.53.1
20246.310.34.33.0
20254.99.83.72.9

Crimes per 1,000 residents

Violent crime

Violent crime, by year and by type

Montague’s police reported 113 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.5 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.0 in the rest of Massachusetts and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.

1,000 neighbors · one year

For every 1,000 residents, about 5 property crimes reported

And about 4 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.

Property crime (4.9)Violent crime (3.7)Everyone else

Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025

Montague3.7
Rest of MA2.9
U.S. (FBI)3.3

Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025

Montague4.9
Rest of MA9.8
U.S. (FBI)15.5

Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.

What gets reported

72 crimes reported in 2025

31 violent and 41 property, as reported to the FBI by Montague’s police.

2025 offenses reported

Larceny / theft24
Burglary14
Vehicle theft3
Aggravated assault29
Robbery0
Rape2
Homicide0
Arson0
31
violent crimes
41
property crimes

Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.

On the roads

One person died in crashes on Montague’s roads in 2019–2023

Montague had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.

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 Montague’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Montague’s own rate (2.4) is context, not a ranking.

1
people died in crashes, 2019–2023
0
pedestrians among them
0
cyclists among them
2.4
per 100,000 a year · Massachusetts towns of 5,000–25,000: 5.2

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.

Next door

Montague and its neighbors

How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.

A rangeB rangeC rangeD rangeNot graded
TownGradeViolentProperty
MontagueC+4.56.7
ErvingA−1.03.2
DeerfieldB2.15.3
GillB+1.94.5
GreenfieldC−5.717.5
SunderlandB+1.83.6

Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.

Massachusetts towns of a similar size

TownGradeViolentProperty
MontagueC+4.56.7
BoxfordA+0.01.4
SterlingA0.92.1
TempletonA−1.33.0
CohassetA−1.44.1
DightonB+1.92.9

The five graded Massachusetts towns closest to Montague’s population (8,377), by grade.

How to read these numbers

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 Montague. 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 Montague’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
  • Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (8,405 in 2025); our figure for Montague is 8,377 (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 Montague

Is Montague, MA safe?

On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Montague reports more crime per resident than 64% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #242 of 276 in Massachusetts. Its police reported 4.5 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 Montague?

4.5 violent and 6.7 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 Montague?

Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.

Is Montague safer than Erving?

Erving reports less crime per resident than Montague: Erving grades A− for safety and Montague C+. Erving’s police reported 1.0 violent and 3.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.

Who polices Montague?

Montague’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Montague”. Its figures are the ones on this page.

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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.