Colburn School-High Street Historic District · Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0Westwood has less violent crime per resident than 87% of U.S. towns
Among its 6 neighbors with figures, 4 record less crime per resident. Behind the grade sit 0.4 violent crime and 14.7 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 3.0 and 10.3 in the rest of Massachusetts. Across all the graded crimes, Westwood lands on B (#182 of 276 graded towns in Massachusetts): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Even so, the crimes the grade counts rose 45% per resident from 2023 to 2025.
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 Westwood
4 of the 6 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 6 Massachusetts towns on Westwood’s borders, 6 have a Safety Grade: Dover (A−), Needham (A−), Norwood (B+), Walpole (B), Canton (B−), Dedham (C+). Neighbors ↓
Among Massachusetts towns, closer to the middle
Massachusetts’ cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Westwood’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 34% of the 276 Massachusetts towns we grade, against 55% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Westwood has 13,119 jobs based in town for 16,426 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
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 Westwood’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Westwood’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (14.7) 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 | Westwood property | Rest of Massachusetts property | Westwood violent | Rest of Massachusetts violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 8.9 | 10.5 | 0.9 | 3.2 |
| 2023 | 13.0 | 10.9 | 0.7 | 3.1 |
| 2024 | 11.5 | 10.3 | 0.4 | 3.0 |
| 2025 | 19.6 | 9.8 | 0.2 | 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Westwood | Rest of Massachusetts | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.9 | 3.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.7 | 3.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.4 | 3.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.2 | 2.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Westwood’s police reported 22 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.4 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 Westwood 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.
329 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.
4 violent and 325 property, as reported to the FBI by Westwood’s police.
Two people died in crashes on Westwood’s roads in 2019–2023
Westwood had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died; 1 was a pedestrian. Most of these deaths (1 of 2) 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 Westwood’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Westwood’s own rate (2.5) 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.
Westwood and its neighbors
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Massachusetts towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westwood | B | 0.4 | 14.7 |
| Duxbury | A | 1.0 | 2.5 |
| North Reading | A− | 0.9 | 3.5 |
| Fairhaven | B− | 2.7 | 6.9 |
| Raynham | B− | 2.2 | 9.9 |
| East Longmeadow | C+ | 2.2 | 13.6 |
The five graded Massachusetts towns closest to Westwood’s population (16,426), 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 Westwood. 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 Westwood’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (16,565 in 2025); our figure for Westwood is 16,426 (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 Westwood
Is Westwood, MA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Westwood reports less crime per resident than 55% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #182 of 276 in Massachusetts. Its police reported 0.4 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 Westwood?
0.4 violent and 14.7 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 Westwood safer than Walpole?
Walpole reports less crime per resident than Westwood: Walpole grades B for safety and Westwood B. Walpole’s police reported 1.4 violent and 8.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Westwood?
Westwood’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Westwood”. 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 Westwood.
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.