Photo: TCP04 · CC BY 4.0Per resident, Potosi records more crime than 98% of U.S. towns
From 2023 to 2025, crimes Potosi’s police reported put it at D− for safety: #163 of 172 graded towns in Missouri. The graded rate fell 62% from 2023 to 2025. Typical years here bring 6.0 violent crimes plus 63.0 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 5.8 plus 26.2 in the rest of Missouri. It has more violent crime than 92% of U.S. towns, and more property crime than 99%.
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 Potosi
A job center
Potosi has 2,629 jobs based in town for 2,568 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 Potosi’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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Potosi property | Rest of Missouri property | Potosi violent | Rest of Missouri violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 75.0 | 31.8 | 9.1 | 6.4 |
| 2023 | 99.5 | 28.8 | 7.9 | 5.9 |
| 2024 | 54.7 | 27.0 | 3.9 | 6.0 |
| 2025 | 34.9 | 22.9 | 6.3 | 5.4 |
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 Missouri.
Crime in Potosi 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 6 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 | Potosi | Rest of Missouri | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 9.1 | 6.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 7.9 | 5.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.9 | 6.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 6.3 | 5.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Potosi’s police reported 46 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 6.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.8 in the rest of Missouri and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
105 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.
16 violent and 89 property, as reported to the FBI by Potosi’s police.
One person died in crashes on Potosi’s roads in 2019–2023
Potosi had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
That is about what is typical for Missouri towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (7.2 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Potosi’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Potosi’s own rate (7.9) 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.
Potosi and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Potosi | D− | 6.0 | 63.0 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Missouri towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Potosi | D− | 6.0 | 63.0 |
| Lawson | B+ | 0.8 | 8.7 |
| Portageville | B− | 2.2 | 9.0 |
| Mountain View | C+ | 2.8 | 12.8 |
| New Madrid | D | 6.5 | 19.4 |
| Pagedale | D− | 18.4 | 33.1 |
The five graded Missouri towns closest to Potosi’s population (2,568), 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 Potosi. 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 Potosi’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (2,548 in 2025); our figure for Potosi is 2,568 (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 Potosi
Is Potosi, MO safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Potosi reports more crime per resident than 98% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade and #163 of 172 in Missouri. Its police reported 6.0 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 Potosi?
6.0 violent and 63.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Missouri reports 5.8 and 26.2; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Potosi?
Potosi’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Potosi”. 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 Potosi.
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.