Charles McLaran House · Photo: Jack Boucher · Public domainCrime reported in Columbus, MS
Columbus’ 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 17 property crimes reported
And about 5 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 Columbus’ 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 | Columbus | Rest of Mississippi | Columbus | 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 | 16.6 | 19.2 | 4.7 | 3.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
479 crimes reported in 2025
106 violent and 373 property, as reported to the FBI by Columbus’ 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Point | C− | 16 mi | 5.8 | 18.1 |
| Starkville | C+ | 24 mi | 0.7 | 20.9 |
| Amory | D | 33 mi | 5.1 | 22.7 |
| Ackerman | B+ | 46 mi | 0.4 | 9.7 |
| Vardaman | A− | 51 mi | 1.6 | 1.3 |
| Fulton | B− | 52 mi | 1.2 | 15.9 |
Straight-line distance from the center of Columbus. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Columbus.
12 people died in crashes on Columbus’s roads in 2019–2023
Columbus had 11 fatal crashes in five years, in which 12 people died.
That is 10.3 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for Mississippi towns of 5,000–25,000 people (11.6, 52 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.
Columbus 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 Columbus. 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 Columbus’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (22,535 in 2025); our figure for Columbus is 22,792 (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 Columbus
Is Columbus, MS safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Columbus. Columbus’ 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 West Point (C−, 16 mi), Starkville (C+, 24 mi), Amory (D, 33 mi).
Who polices Columbus?
Columbus’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Columbus”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Columbus.
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.