Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Waterville reports more crime per resident than 80% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Waterville’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C− for safety: #74 of 78 graded towns in 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 Waterville
2 of the 2 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 2 Maine towns on Waterville’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Oakland (A−), Winslow (B+). Neighbors ↓
Among Maine towns, lower
Maine’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Waterville’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 5% of the 78 Maine towns we grade, against 20% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Waterville is home to Colby College, with 2,284 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 18% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
A job center
Waterville has 11,787 jobs based in town for 17,579 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 Waterville’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Waterville’s grade up; property crime pulls it down.
Reported crime is falling
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Waterville property | Rest of Maine property | Waterville violent | Rest of Maine violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 43.0 | 14.9 | 2.1 | 1.2 |
| 2023 | 34.4 | 13.7 | 2.1 | 1.2 |
| 2024 | 30.2 | 14.3 | 1.4 | 1.1 |
| 2025 | 25.7 | 11.8 | 0.9 | 1.1 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Waterville’s police reported 73 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.5 per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.1 in the rest of Maine and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Waterville | Rest of Maine | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.1 | 1.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.1 | 1.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 26 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
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.
466 crimes reported in 2025
16 violent and 450 property, as reported to the FBI by Waterville’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Five people died in crashes on Waterville’s roads in 2019–2023
Waterville had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died; 1 was a pedestrian. Most of these deaths (3 of 5) 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 Maine towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (6.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Waterville’s size would see about 6 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Waterville’s own rate (5.9) 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.
Waterville and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waterville | C− | 1.5 | 30.0 |
| Winslow | B+ | 1.1 | 8.7 |
| Oakland | A− | 0.4 | 6.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
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 Waterville. 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 Waterville’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (17,503 in 2025); our figure for Waterville is 17,579 (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 Waterville
Is Waterville, ME safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Waterville reports more crime per resident than 80% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #74 of 78 in Maine. Its police reported 1.5 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 Waterville?
1.5 violent and 30.0 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 crime going up or down in Waterville?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Waterville safer than Winslow?
Winslow reports less crime per resident than Waterville: Winslow grades B+ for safety and Waterville C−. Winslow’s police reported 1.1 violent and 8.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Waterville?
Waterville’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Waterville”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Waterville.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
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.