Photo: Dave Herholz · CC BY-SA 2.0Sedalia has more violent crime per resident than four in five U.S. towns
Its Safety Grade is C−, on crimes Sedalia’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #122 of 172 graded towns in Missouri. Each year brought 4.3 violent crimes and 20.1 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (5.8 and 26.2 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 Sedalia
A college town
Sedalia is home to State Fair Community College, with 2,332 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 4% 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
Sedalia has 14,004 jobs based in town for 22,621 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 Sedalia’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; property crime is the closer of the two to typical.
Crime in Sedalia 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 | Sedalia | Rest of Missouri | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.9 | 6.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.9 | 5.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 5.5 | 6.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.4 | 5.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Sedalia’s police reported 284 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.3 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 | Sedalia property | Rest of Missouri property | Sedalia violent | Rest of Missouri violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 28.1 | 31.8 | 4.9 | 6.4 |
| 2023 | 15.9 | 28.9 | 3.9 | 5.9 |
| 2024 | 26.4 | 27.0 | 5.5 | 6.0 |
| 2025 | 18.0 | 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.
481 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.
77 violent and 404 property, as reported to the FBI by Sedalia’s police.
10 people died in crashes on Sedalia’s roads in 2019–2023
Sedalia had 10 fatal crashes in five years, in which 10 people died; 3 were pedestrians.
That is 9.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Missouri towns of 5,000–25,000 people (7.6, 123 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.
Sedalia and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sedalia | C− | 4.3 | 20.1 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Missouri towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sedalia | C− | 4.3 | 20.1 |
| Webster Groves | B+ | 1.0 | 6.7 |
| Ozark | B+ | 0.9 | 8.0 |
| Republic | B | 1.2 | 9.5 |
| Arnold | B− | 1.1 | 13.8 |
| Hazelwood | D | 5.5 | 24.2 |
The five graded Missouri towns closest to Sedalia’s population (22,621), 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 Sedalia. 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 Sedalia’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (22,454 in 2025); our figure for Sedalia is 22,621 (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 Sedalia
Is Sedalia, MO safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Sedalia reports more crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #122 of 172 in Missouri. Its police reported 4.3 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 Sedalia?
4.3 violent and 20.1 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 Sedalia?
Sedalia’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Sedalia”. 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 Sedalia.
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.