Photo: PhilipC · CC BY 2.0Portland has more property crime per resident than 78% of U.S. towns
Its Safety Grade is C, on crimes Portland’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #69 of 78 graded towns in Maine. The crimes the grade counts rose 12% per resident from 2023 to 2025. Police counts work out at 2.5 violent crimes and 20.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the rest of Maine they are 1.0 and 13.0. All 4 towns next door with figures record less crime per resident.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of ME” is every other Maine 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 Portland
4 of the 4 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 4 Maine towns on Portland’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Cape Elizabeth (A+), Falmouth (A), South Portland (B), Westbrook (B−). Neighbors ↓
Among Maine towns, lower
Maine’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Portland’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 12% of the 78 Maine towns we grade, against 27% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Portland has 70,429 jobs based in town for 69,911 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 Portland’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; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (2.5) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) 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 | Portland property | Rest of Maine property | Portland violent | Rest of Maine violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 16.8 | 15.3 | 1.8 | 1.1 |
| 2023 | 17.1 | 13.8 | 2.3 | 1.1 |
| 2024 | 24.8 | 13.7 | 2.7 | 1.0 |
| 2025 | 19.2 | 11.4 | 2.4 | 1.0 |
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 Maine.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Portland | Rest of Maine | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.3 | 1.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.7 | 1.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.4 | 1.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Portland’s police reported 511 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.5 per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.0 in the rest of Maine and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Portland 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 2 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
1,514 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.
170 violent and 1,344 property, as reported to the FBI by Portland’s police.
15 people died in crashes on Portland’s roads in 2019–2023
Portland had 15 fatal crashes in five years, in which 15 people died; 5 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist. 4 died in crashes on an Interstate.
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.
Portland and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portland | C | 2.5 | 20.4 |
| Westbrook | B− | 1.7 | 11.8 |
| Falmouth | A | 0.4 | 5.4 |
| South Portland | B | 0.8 | 11.9 |
| Cape Elizabeth | A+ | 0.2 | 1.6 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Maine towns of a similar size
The five graded Maine towns closest to Portland’s population (69,911), 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 Portland. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Portland’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (69,840 in 2025); our figure for Portland is 69,911 (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 Portland
Is Portland, ME safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Portland reports more crime per resident than 73% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #69 of 78 in Maine. Its police reported 2.5 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.0 in the rest of Maine and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Portland?
2.5 violent and 20.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Maine reports 1.0 and 13.0; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Portland in 2025?
Portland’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Portland safer than Westbrook?
Westbrook reports less crime per resident than Portland: Westbrook grades B− for safety and Portland C. Westbrook’s police reported 1.7 violent and 11.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Portland?
Portland’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Portland”. 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 Portland.
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.