U.S. Post Office · Photo: Gabriel D. May · CC BY-SA 3.0Crime reported in Columbia, MS
Columbia’s police reported to the FBI for 2025 but not 2023 or 2024, so there is no Safety Grade: the grade needs all three years, 2023–2025.
For every 1,000 residents, about 28 property crimes reported
And about 2 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.
The years Columbia’s police reported
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents, against the rest of Mississippi. A year the department didn’t report in full is a gap, not a zero.
Show as a table
| Year | Columbia | Rest of Mississippi | Columbia | Rest of Mississippi |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | not reported | 25.1 | not reported | 2.9 |
| 2023 | not reported | 24.5 | not reported | 2.5 |
| 2024 | not reported | 22.1 | not reported | 2.5 |
| 2025 | 27.6 | 19.1 | 1.9 | 3.1 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
191 crimes reported in 2025
12 violent and 179 property, as reported to the FBI by Columbia’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
The nearest Mississippi towns with a Safety Grade
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
| Town | Grade | Distance | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hattiesburg | D | 30 mi | 2.4 | 37.6 |
| Poplarville | C+ | 34 mi | 1.4 | 16.2 |
| Petal | A | 35 mi | 0.7 | 4.1 |
| Ellisville | B− | 43 mi | 1.8 | 13.3 |
| Wiggins | C− | 49 mi | 2.6 | 27.1 |
| Laurel | D− | 49 mi | 9.4 | 38.7 |
Straight-line distance from the center of Columbia. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Columbia.
Three people died in crashes on Columbia’s roads in 2019–2023
Columbia had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which three people died.
That is about what is typical for Mississippi towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (11.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Columbia’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Columbia’s own rate (9.0) 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.
Columbia and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
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 Columbia. 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 Columbia’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (6,478 in 2025); our figure for Columbia is 6,525 (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 Columbia
Is Columbia, MS safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Columbia. Columbia’s police reported to the FBI for 2025 but not 2023 or 2024, so there is no Safety Grade: the grade needs all three years, 2023–2025. The nearest Mississippi towns with a grade are Hattiesburg (D, 30 mi), Poplarville (C+, 34 mi), Petal (A, 35 mi).
Who polices Columbia?
Columbia’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Columbia”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Columbia.
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.