West Chop Club Historic District · Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0On violent crime, Tisbury has a higher rate per resident than 94% of U.S. towns
Overall, Tisbury grades C− for safety (#263 of 276 graded towns in Massachusetts): more crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. On top of that, its two neighbors with figures both record less crime per resident. Year on year, 6.7 violent crimes and 9.8 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 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 Tisbury
2 of the 2 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 2 Massachusetts towns on Tisbury’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: West Tisbury (A−), Oak Bluffs (C+). Neighbors ↓
Among Massachusetts towns, lower
Massachusetts’ cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Tisbury’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 ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Tisbury’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Tisbury’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Tisbury | Rest of Massachusetts | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.7 | 3.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 6.5 | 3.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 6.8 | 3.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 6.9 | 2.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Tisbury’s police reported 100 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 6.7 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 Tisbury 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 7 violent crimes, 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 | Tisbury property | Rest of Massachusetts property | Tisbury violent | Rest of Massachusetts violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 8.1 | 10.5 | 6.7 | 3.2 |
| 2023 | 8.3 | 10.9 | 6.5 | 3.1 |
| 2024 | 14.0 | 10.3 | 6.8 | 3.0 |
| 2025 | 7.1 | 9.8 | 6.9 | 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.
69 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.
34 violent and 35 property, as reported to the FBI by Tisbury’s police.
One person died in crashes on Tisbury’s roads in 2019–2023
Tisbury had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
That is about what is typical for Massachusetts towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (6.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Tisbury’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Tisbury’s own rate (4.1) 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.
Tisbury and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tisbury | C− | 6.7 | 9.8 |
| Oak Bluffs | C+ | 3.3 | 10.6 |
| West Tisbury | A− | 1.4 | 2.8 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Massachusetts towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tisbury | C− | 6.7 | 9.8 |
| Paxton | A | 0.6 | 3.0 |
| Wenham | A | 0.9 | 1.9 |
| Hampden | B | 1.3 | 8.5 |
| Lenox | B− | 1.3 | 15.0 |
| Avon | C | 1.6 | 20.4 |
The five graded Massachusetts towns closest to Tisbury’s population (4,934), 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 Tisbury. 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 Tisbury’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (4,958 in 2025); our figure for Tisbury is 4,934 (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 Tisbury
Is Tisbury, MA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Tisbury reports more crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #263 of 276 in Massachusetts. Its police reported 6.7 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 Tisbury?
6.7 violent and 9.8 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 Tisbury safer than Oak Bluffs?
Oak Bluffs reports less crime per resident than Tisbury: Oak Bluffs grades C+ for safety and Tisbury C−. Oak Bluffs’s police reported 3.3 violent and 10.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Tisbury?
Tisbury’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Tisbury”. 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 Tisbury.
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.