Photo: Ente75 · Public domainPicayune reports more crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Picayune’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C− for safety: #29 of 45 graded towns in Mississippi.
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 about safety in Picayune
Among Mississippi towns, closer to the middle
Mississippi’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Picayune’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 36% of the 45 Mississippi towns we grade, against 19% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
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 Picayune’s 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; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (2.9) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
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
| Year | Picayune property | Rest of Mississippi property | Picayune violent | Rest of Mississippi violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 29.5 | 25.1 | 6.5 | 2.9 |
| 2023 | 29.1 | 24.5 | 3.8 | 2.5 |
| 2024 | 27.0 | 22.0 | 1.9 | 2.6 |
| 2025 | 18.3 | 19.1 | 3.2 | 3.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 18 property crimes reported
And about 3 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Picayune’s police reported 105 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.7 in the rest of Mississippi and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Picayune | Rest of Mississippi | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.5 | 2.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.8 | 2.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.9 | 2.6 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
258 crimes reported in 2025
38 violent and 220 property, as reported to the FBI by Picayune’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
11 people died in crashes on Picayune’s roads in 2019–2023
Picayune had 11 fatal crashes in five years, in which 11 people died; 3 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist. 5 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 18.5 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above 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.
Picayune and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Picayune | C− | 2.9 | 24.7 |
| Nicholson | — | — | — |
| Hide-A-Way Lake | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Nicholson and Hide-A-Way Lake are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
Mississippi towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Picayune | C− | 2.9 | 24.7 |
| Petal | A | 0.7 | 4.1 |
| Byram | B | 0.9 | 11.2 |
| Flowood | C+ | 1.0 | 21.0 |
| Bay St. Louis | C | 1.0 | 23.7 |
| D'Iberville | D | 0.8 | 48.6 |
The five graded Mississippi towns closest to Picayune’s population (12,019), by grade.
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 Picayune. 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 Picayune’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (12,053 in 2025); our figure for Picayune is 12,019 (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 Picayune
Is Picayune, MS safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Picayune reports more crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #29 of 45 in Mississippi. Its police reported 2.9 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.7 in the rest of Mississippi and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Picayune?
2.9 violent and 24.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Mississippi reports 2.7 and 21.6; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Picayune?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Who polices Picayune?
Picayune’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Picayune”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Picayune.
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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.