Photo: RebelAt of English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0More crimes per resident are recorded in Jefferson City than in 77% of U.S. towns
On the record of crimes Jefferson City’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it takes C− for safety: #113 of 172 graded towns in Missouri. By contrast, the local count comes to 3.3 violent crimes and 19.6 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 5.8 and 26.3 in the rest of Missouri.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of MO” is every other Missouri 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 Jefferson City
A job center
Jefferson City has 50,863 jobs based in town for 42,489 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Jefferson City’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 (3.3) 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.
Crime in Jefferson City 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 | Jefferson City | Rest of Missouri | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.6 | 6.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.2 | 5.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.3 | 6.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.4 | 5.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Jefferson City’s police reported 423 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.3 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.8 in the rest of Missouri and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Jefferson City property | Rest of Missouri property | Jefferson City violent | Rest of Missouri violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 17.1 | 32.0 | 3.6 | 6.4 |
| 2023 | 20.4 | 28.9 | 3.2 | 5.9 |
| 2024 | 20.4 | 27.0 | 3.3 | 6.0 |
| 2025 | 17.9 | 22.9 | 3.4 | 5.5 |
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 Missouri.
910 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.
146 violent and 764 property, as reported to the FBI by Jefferson City’s police.
15 people died in crashes on Jefferson City’s roads in 2019–2023
Jefferson City had 15 fatal crashes in five years, in which 15 people died; 2 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
That is 7.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for Missouri towns of 25,000–100,000 people (6.9, 24 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.
Jefferson City and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jefferson City | C− | 3.3 | 19.6 |
| Taos | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Taos has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Missouri towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jefferson City | C− | 3.3 | 19.6 |
| Wentzville | B | 1.5 | 8.2 |
| Chesterfield | B | 1.0 | 11.3 |
| Florissant | C | 2.9 | 18.0 |
| University City | C | 3.0 | 18.0 |
| Cape Girardeau | D | 5.7 | 22.5 |
The five graded Missouri towns closest to Jefferson City’s population (42,489), 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 Jefferson City. 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 Jefferson City’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (42,573 in 2025); our figure for Jefferson City is 42,489 (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 Jefferson City
Is Jefferson City, MO safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Jefferson City reports more crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #113 of 172 in Missouri. Its police reported 3.3 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.8 in the rest of Missouri and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Jefferson City?
3.3 violent and 19.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Missouri reports 5.8 and 26.3; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Jefferson City in 2025?
Jefferson City’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.
Who polices Jefferson City?
Jefferson City’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Jefferson City”. 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 Jefferson City.
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.