Winslow Homer Studio · Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Violent crime per resident is lower in Scarborough than in 82% of U.S. towns
Next door, 2 of 6 towns with figures record less crime per resident. Overall, it grades B+ for safety (#44 of 78 graded towns in Maine). What’s more, the graded rate fell 36% from 2023 to 2025. Per 1,000 residents a year, 0.6 violent crime and 10.5 incidents of property crime were recorded, against 1.2 and 13.7 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 Scarborough
2 of the 6 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 6 Maine towns on Scarborough’s borders, 6 have a Safety Grade: Cape Elizabeth (A+), Gorham (A), Saco (B), South Portland (B), Old Orchard Beach (B), Westbrook (B−). Neighbors ↓
Among Maine towns, closer to the middle
Maine’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Scarborough’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 44% of the 78 Maine towns we grade, against 66% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Scarborough has 16,960 jobs based in town for 24,547 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
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 Scarborough’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 lower than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Scarborough property | Rest of Maine property | Scarborough violent | Rest of Maine violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 15.9 | 15.4 | 0.7 | 1.2 |
| 2023 | 12.9 | 14.1 | 0.5 | 1.2 |
| 2024 | 10.6 | 14.7 | 0.6 | 1.2 |
| 2025 | 8.0 | 12.2 | 0.6 | 1.1 |
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 Maine.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Scarborough | Rest of Maine | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Scarborough’s police reported 42 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.6 per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.2 in the rest of Maine and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Scarborough 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 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
211 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.
14 violent and 197 property, as reported to the FBI by Scarborough’s police.
Eight people died in crashes on Scarborough’s roads in 2019–2023
Scarborough had 8 fatal crashes in five years, in which eight people died; 1 was a cyclist.
That is about what is typical for Maine towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (6.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Scarborough’s size would see about 8 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Scarborough’s own rate (6.9) 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.
Scarborough and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scarborough | B+ | 0.6 | 10.5 |
| Cape Elizabeth | A+ | 0.2 | 1.6 |
| Gorham | A | 0.2 | 3.4 |
| Saco | B | 0.8 | 11.7 |
| Westbrook | B− | 1.7 | 11.8 |
| Old Orchard Beach | B | 1.5 | 10.5 |
| South Portland | B | 0.8 | 11.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Maine towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scarborough | B+ | 0.6 | 10.5 |
| Windham | A− | 0.7 | 7.0 |
| Brunswick | B | 0.8 | 10.4 |
| Auburn | C | 2.0 | 22.7 |
| Sanford | C | 1.8 | 24.9 |
| Biddeford | C− | 3.0 | 24.3 |
The five graded Maine towns closest to Scarborough’s population (24,547), 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 Scarborough. 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 Scarborough’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (24,473 in 2025); our figure for Scarborough is 24,547 (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 Scarborough
Is Scarborough, ME safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Scarborough reports less crime per resident than 66% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #44 of 78 in Maine. Its police reported 0.6 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.2 in the rest of Maine and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Scarborough?
0.6 violent and 10.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Maine reports 1.2 and 13.7; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is Scarborough safer than Cape Elizabeth?
Cape Elizabeth reports less crime per resident than Scarborough: Cape Elizabeth grades A+ for safety and Scarborough B+. Cape Elizabeth’s police reported 0.2 violent and 1.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Scarborough?
Scarborough’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Scarborough”. 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 Scarborough.
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.