Photo: Kbh3rd · CC BY 4.0More violent crime is recorded per resident in Waynesville than in 88% of U.S. towns
Weighing it all, Waynesville earns C for safety (#103 of 172 graded towns in Missouri), with more crime per resident than 72% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported over 2023 to 2025. Behind the grade sit 5.0 violent crimes and 9.7 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 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 Waynesville
Among Missouri towns, closer to the middle
Missouri’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Waynesville’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 40% of the 172 Missouri towns we grade, against 28% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Waynesville’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Waynesville’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Waynesville | Rest of Missouri | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.1 | 6.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 6.3 | 5.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.4 | 6.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.4 | 5.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Waynesville’s police reported 82 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 5.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.8 in the rest of Missouri and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Waynesville 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 4 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Waynesville property | Rest of Missouri property | Waynesville violent | Rest of Missouri violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 13.5 | 31.9 | 3.1 | 6.4 |
| 2023 | 9.4 | 28.8 | 6.3 | 5.9 |
| 2024 | 9.5 | 27.0 | 4.4 | 6.0 |
| 2025 | 10.3 | 22.9 | 4.4 | 5.4 |
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.
81 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.
24 violent and 57 property, as reported to the FBI by Waynesville’s police.
Two people died in crashes on Waynesville’s roads in 2019–2023
Waynesville had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died; 1 was a pedestrian. Most of these deaths (1 of 2) 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 Missouri towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (7.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Waynesville’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Waynesville’s own rate (7.4) 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.
Waynesville and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waynesville | C | 5.0 | 9.7 |
| St. Robert | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. St. Robert reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2025 but not 2024.
Missouri towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waynesville | C | 5.0 | 9.7 |
| Odessa | A | 0.3 | 3.2 |
| Herculaneum | B− | 1.5 | 11.2 |
| Trenton | B− | 3.1 | 6.7 |
| Macon | B− | 1.9 | 11.8 |
| North Kansas City | D− | 7.9 | 83.4 |
The five graded Missouri towns closest to Waynesville’s population (5,558), 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 Waynesville. 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 Waynesville’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (5,509 in 2025); our figure for Waynesville is 5,558 (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 Waynesville
Is Waynesville, MO safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Waynesville reports more crime per resident than 72% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #103 of 172 in Missouri. Its police reported 5.0 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 Waynesville?
5.0 violent and 9.7 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 Waynesville?
Waynesville’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Waynesville”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Waynesville.
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.