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Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar HouseLucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar House · Photo: Fredlyfish4 · CC BY-SA 4.0
C+
Safety in Oxford · FBI data, 2023–2025

Reported crime per resident in Oxford fell 26% from 2023 to 2025

Overall, Oxford grades C+ for safety (#17 of 45 graded towns in Mississippi): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.

Violent crime
1.4
per 1,000 a year · Well below rest of MS (2.8)
U.S. (FBI national estimate) 3.6
Property crime
16.3
per 1,000 a year · Below rest of MS (21.8)
U.S. (FBI national estimate) 17.6
Crimes reported
1,444
112 violent · 1,332 property
2023–2025
Trend
▼ Falling
2023 to 2025
beyond ordinary swings

Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of MS” is every other Mississippi 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 · In brief

What stands out about safety in Oxford

Among Mississippi towns, closer to the middle

Mississippi’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Oxford’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 62% of the 45 Mississippi towns we grade, against 42% nationally. Safety Grade ↓

A job center

Oxford has 19,774 jobs based in town for 26,773 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.

Safety Grade

What’s behind Oxford’s grade

Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Oxford’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (16.3) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.

Where Oxford sits
B Violent 1.4C Property 16.3
All U.S. towns we grade (7,426)Less crime than 42%
More reported crimeLess reported crime
Mississippi towns we grade (45)Less crime than 62% · #17 of 45
Places of 25,000–100,000 people (1,371)Less crime than 55%
A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,444 reported crimes over three years. Ordinary swings could put Oxford anywhere from C+ to B−.

How TownRatings grades safety →

Trend

Reported crime is falling

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 Mississippi.

Show as a table
YearOxford propertyRest of Mississippi propertyOxford violentRest of Mississippi violent
202216.325.41.33.0
202317.724.81.42.6
202418.522.21.32.6
202512.719.31.43.1

Crimes per 1,000 residents

Violent crime

Violent crime, by year and by type

Oxford’s police reported 112 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.4 per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.8 in the rest of Mississippi and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.

1,000 neighbors · one year

For every 1,000 residents, about 13 property crimes reported

And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.

Property crime (12.7)Violent crime (1.4)Everyone else

Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025

Oxford1.4
Rest of MS3.1
U.S. (FBI)3.3

Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025

Oxford12.7
Rest of MS19.3
U.S. (FBI)15.5

Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.

What gets reported

383 crimes reported in 2025

38 violent and 345 property, as reported to the FBI by Oxford’s police.

2025 offenses reported

Larceny / theft308
Burglary29
Vehicle theft8
Aggravated assault19
Robbery3
Rape16
Homicide0
Arson2
38
violent crimes
345
property crimes

Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.

On the roads

15 people died in crashes on Oxford’s roads in 2019–2023

Oxford had 12 fatal crashes in five years, in which 15 people died; 3 were pedestrians.

That is 11.4 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for Mississippi towns of 25,000–100,000 people (11.4, 15 towns).

15
people died in crashes, 2019–2023
3
pedestrians among them
0
cyclists among them
11.4
per 100,000 a year · Mississippi towns of 25,000–100,000: 11.4

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.

Next door

Oxford and its neighbors

How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.

Oxford
A rangeB rangeC rangeD rangeNot graded
TownGradeViolentProperty
OxfordC+1.416.3

Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.

Mississippi towns of a similar size

TownGradeViolentProperty
OxfordC+1.416.3
MadisonA0.44.6
BrandonA0.73.4
ClintonB0.911.2
Horn LakeB−0.916.1
StarkvilleC+0.720.9

The five graded Mississippi towns closest to Oxford’s population (26,773), by grade.

How to read these numbers

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 Oxford. 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 Oxford’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
  • Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (27,137 in 2025); our figure for Oxford is 26,773 (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 Oxford

Is Oxford, MS safe?

On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Oxford reports more crime per resident than 58% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #17 of 45 in Mississippi. Its police reported 1.4 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.8 in the rest of Mississippi and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.

What is the crime rate in Oxford?

1.4 violent and 16.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Mississippi reports 2.8 and 21.8; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.

Is crime going up or down in Oxford?

Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.

How many homicides were there in Oxford in 2025?

Oxford’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.

Who polices Oxford?

Oxford’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Oxford”. Its figures are the ones on this page.

Heads-up board

Neighbors looking out for each other in Oxford.

Town Square →
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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.