Photo: Aberdeen Proving Ground · CC BY 2.0In North East, the kinds of crime the grade counts fell 51% per resident from 2023 to 2025
It has more violent crime than 82% of U.S. towns, and more property crime than 76%. Behind the grade sit 4.0 violent crimes and 19.1 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 8.4 and 29.3 in the rest of Maryland. North East’s overall Safety Grade is C− (#30 of 52 graded towns in Maryland): more crime per resident than 79% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of MD” is every other Maryland 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 North East
Among Maryland towns, closer to the middle
Maryland’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so North East’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 42% of the 52 Maryland towns we grade, against 21% 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.
What’s behind North East’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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | North East property | Rest of Maryland property | North East violent | Rest of Maryland violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 22.0 | 27.4 | 2.0 | 10.8 |
| 2023 | 26.0 | 30.7 | 4.6 | 9.0 |
| 2024 | 19.1 | 30.3 | 4.8 | 8.9 |
| 2025 | 12.3 | 27.1 | 2.6 | 7.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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 Maryland.
Crime in North East 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 3 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | North East | Rest of Maryland | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.0 | 10.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.6 | 9.0 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.8 | 8.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.6 | 7.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
North East’s police reported 50 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 8.4 in the rest of Maryland and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
63 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.
11 violent and 52 property, as reported to the FBI by North East’s police.
One person died in crashes on North East’s roads in 2019–2023
North East had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
That is about what is typical for Maryland towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (5.2 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of North East’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so North East’s own rate (4.8) 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.
North East and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| North East | C− | 4.0 | 19.1 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Maryland towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| North East | C− | 4.0 | 19.1 |
| Sykesville | B+ | 0.8 | 7.0 |
| Perryville | C+ | 2.4 | 14.6 |
| Capitol Heights | C− | 4.5 | 15.4 |
| Pocomoke City | D | 4.9 | 30.7 |
| Seat Pleasant | D | 7.2 | 28.1 |
The five graded Maryland towns closest to North East’s population (4,237), 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 North East. 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 North East’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (4,217 in 2025); our figure for North East is 4,237 (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 North East
Is North East, MD safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, North East reports more crime per resident than 79% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #30 of 52 in Maryland. Its police reported 4.0 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 8.4 in the rest of Maryland and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in North East?
4.0 violent and 19.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Maryland reports 8.4 and 29.3; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices North East?
North East’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “North East”. 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 North East.
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.