Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0Property crime per resident is higher in Sanford than in 85% of U.S. towns
The overall Safety Grade is C (#73 of 78 graded towns in Maine), which means more crime per resident than 75% of U.S. towns, judged on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Per 1,000 residents a year, 1.8 violent crimes and 24.9 incidents of property crime were recorded, against 1.1 and 13.3 in the rest of Maine.
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 Sanford
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 4 Maine towns on Sanford’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: North Berwick (A). Alfred, Shapleigh and Lebanon have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Among Maine towns, lower
Maine’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Sanford’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 6% of the 78 Maine towns we grade, against 25% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Sanford’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 (1.8) 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Sanford | Rest of Maine | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Sanford’s police reported 119 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.8 per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.1 in the rest of Maine and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Sanford 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.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Sanford property | Rest of Maine property | Sanford violent | Rest of Maine violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 24.0 | 15.2 | 2.0 | 1.2 |
| 2023 | 25.5 | 13.8 | 1.8 | 1.2 |
| 2024 | 26.3 | 14.3 | 1.6 | 1.1 |
| 2025 | 23.0 | 11.7 | 1.9 | 1.1 |
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 Maine.
564 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.
43 violent and 521 property, as reported to the FBI by Sanford’s police.
12 people died in crashes on Sanford’s roads in 2019–2023
Sanford had 11 fatal crashes in five years, in which 12 people died; 3 were pedestrians.
That is 10.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Maine towns of 5,000–25,000 people (6.7, 78 towns).
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.
Sanford and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanford | C | 1.8 | 24.9 |
| Alfred | — | — | — |
| North Berwick | A | 0.9 | 3.0 |
| Shapleigh | — | — | — |
| Lebanon | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Alfred, Shapleigh and Lebanon have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Maine towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanford | C | 1.8 | 24.9 |
| Scarborough | B+ | 0.6 | 10.5 |
| Brunswick | B | 0.8 | 10.4 |
| Saco | B | 0.8 | 11.7 |
| Westbrook | B− | 1.7 | 11.8 |
| Biddeford | C− | 3.0 | 24.3 |
The five graded Maine towns closest to Sanford’s population (22,663), 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 Sanford. 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 Sanford’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (22,630 in 2025); our figure for Sanford is 22,663 (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 Sanford
Is Sanford, ME safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Sanford reports more crime per resident than 75% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #73 of 78 in Maine. Its police reported 1.8 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.1 in the rest of Maine and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Sanford?
1.8 violent and 24.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Maine reports 1.1 and 13.3; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is Sanford safer than North Berwick?
North Berwick reports less crime per resident than Sanford: North Berwick grades A for safety and Sanford C. North Berwick’s police reported 0.9 violent and 3.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Sanford?
Sanford’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Sanford”. 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 Sanford.
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.