Photo: Doncram · CC BY-SA 4.0In West Plains, the kinds of crime the grade counts fell 40% per resident from 2023 to 2025
Out of every 1,000 residents, 3.8 violent crimes and 18.9 incidents of property crime are reported annually, against 5.8 and 26.2 in the rest of Missouri. Overall, West Plains grades C− for safety (#115 of 172 graded towns in Missouri): more crime per resident than 78% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported in 2023–2025. What’s more, it has more violent crime than 81% of U.S. towns, and more property crime than 75%.
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 West Plains
A job center
West Plains has 9,011 jobs based in town for 12,780 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 West Plains’ 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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | West Plains property | Rest of Missouri property | West Plains violent | Rest of Missouri violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 32.6 | 31.8 | 4.2 | 6.4 |
| 2023 | 23.9 | 28.8 | 5.2 | 5.9 |
| 2024 | 18.1 | 27.0 | 3.6 | 6.0 |
| 2025 | 14.6 | 22.9 | 2.7 | 5.5 |
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 West Plains 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 | West Plains | Rest of Missouri | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.2 | 6.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 5.2 | 5.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.6 | 6.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.7 | 5.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
West Plains’ police reported 147 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.8 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.8 in the rest of Missouri and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
223 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.
35 violent and 188 property, as reported to the FBI by West Plains’ police.
Nine people died in crashes on West Plains’s roads in 2019–2023
West Plains had 6 fatal crashes in five years, in which nine people died.
That is more than 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 West Plains’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so West Plains’s own rate (14.5) 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.
West Plains and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Plains | C− | 3.8 | 18.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Missouri towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Plains | C− | 3.8 | 18.9 |
| Eureka | B+ | 1.0 | 7.4 |
| Fulton | B+ | 1.2 | 8.1 |
| Crestwood | B− | 1.1 | 14.2 |
| St. Ann | C | 2.9 | 14.4 |
| Branson | D− | 4.2 | 50.0 |
The five graded Missouri towns closest to West Plains’ population (12,780), 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 West Plains. 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 West Plains’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (12,834 in 2025); our figure for West Plains is 12,780 (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 West Plains
Is West Plains, MO safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, West Plains reports more crime per resident than 78% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #115 of 172 in Missouri. Its police reported 3.8 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 West Plains?
3.8 violent and 18.9 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 West Plains?
West Plains’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “West Plains”. 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 West Plains.
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.