William Henry and Lilla Luce Harrison House · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainScott City reports less property crime than most U.S. towns, but more violent crime
Overall, Scott City grades C+ for safety (#77 of 172 graded towns in Missouri): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
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 Scott City
Scott City reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 1 Missouri towns on Scott City’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Cape Girardeau (D). Neighbors ↓
Among Missouri towns, closer to the middle
Missouri’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Scott City’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 55% of the 172 Missouri towns we grade, against 43% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Scott City’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Scott City’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down. Its violent rate (3.0) 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
Scott City’s police reported 39 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.8 in the rest of Missouri and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Scott City | Rest of Missouri | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.5 | 6.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.5 | 5.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.0 | 6.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.4 | 5.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 10 property crimes reported
And about 3 violent crimes, 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.
Reported crime is steady
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Scott City property | Rest of Missouri property | Scott City violent | Rest of Missouri violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 15.8 | 31.8 | 2.5 | 6.4 |
| 2023 | 10.8 | 28.8 | 2.5 | 5.9 |
| 2024 | 8.0 | 27.0 | 3.0 | 6.0 |
| 2025 | 9.9 | 22.9 | 3.4 | 5.4 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
59 crimes reported in 2025
15 violent and 44 property, as reported to the FBI by Scott City’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
No one died in a crash on Scott City’s roads in 2019–2023
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 Scott City’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Scott City’s own rate (0.0) 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.
Scott City and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scott City | C+ | 3.0 | 9.6 |
| Cape Girardeau | D | 5.7 | 22.5 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Missouri towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scott City | C+ | 3.0 | 9.6 |
| Rock Hill | B | 2.2 | 7.5 |
| Lexington | C+ | 3.4 | 9.8 |
| Fredericktown | C | 1.5 | 20.0 |
| Salem | C | 2.7 | 17.6 |
| Riverside | D− | 5.0 | 51.9 |
The five graded Missouri towns closest to Scott City’s population (4,593), by grade.
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 Scott 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 Scott City’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (4,456 in 2025); our figure for Scott City is 4,593 (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 Scott City
Is Scott City, MO safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Scott City reports more crime per resident than 57% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #77 of 172 in Missouri. Its police reported 3.0 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 Scott City?
3.0 violent and 9.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Missouri reports 5.8 and 26.2; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Scott City?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Scott City safer than Cape Girardeau?
Cape Girardeau reports more crime per resident than Scott City: Cape Girardeau grades D for safety and Scott City C+. Cape Girardeau’s police reported 5.7 violent and 22.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Scott City?
Scott City’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Scott City”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Scott City.
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.