Photo: Hanyou23 · CC BY-SA 4.0Per resident, Lincoln records more crime than 83% of U.S. towns
A Safety Grade of C− follows from crimes Lincoln’s police reported over the years 2023 to 2025: #163 of 325 U.S. cities over 100,000. The graded rate fell 24% from 2023 to 2025. The local count comes to 3.8 violent crimes and 23.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 2.4 and 19.6 in the rest of Nebraska.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of NE” is every other Nebraska 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 Lincoln
Among Nebraska towns, lower
Nebraska’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Lincoln’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 3% of the 37 Nebraska towns we grade, against 17% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Homicides: below U.S. cities overall
Lincoln’s police reported 6 homicides to the FBI in 2025. Over 2023–2025 that is 2.4 per 100,000 residents a year, below the rest of Nebraska (2.8) and below all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (5.7). Violent crime ↓
Robberies: 2.1 times the rest of Nebraska
46.1 robberies per 100,000 residents a year over 2023–2025 (136 reported in 2025), 2.1 times the rest of Nebraska (21.5) and below all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (79.4). Violent crime ↓
Against other big cities
Among the 325 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, Lincoln reports less crime per resident than 50% (#163). Places like 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 Lincoln’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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Lincoln property | Rest of Nebraska property | Lincoln violent | Rest of Nebraska violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 28.4 | 25.2 | 3.8 | 3.9 |
| 2023 | 26.9 | 16.1 | 3.7 | 1.8 |
| 2024 | 24.5 | 22.5 | 3.5 | 2.7 |
| 2025 | 18.9 | 18.5 | 4.2 | 2.5 |
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 Nebraska.
Homicides and robberies
Show as a table
| Year | Lincoln | Rest of Nebraska | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 7.7 |
| 2023 | 2.4 | 1.8 | 6.8 |
| 2024 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 5.7 |
| 2025 | 2.0 | 3.6 | 4.6 |
Homicides per 100,000 residents
Show as a table
| Year | Lincoln | Rest of Nebraska | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 49.3 | 42.2 | 95.5 |
| 2023 | 52.9 | 9.8 | 90.6 |
| 2024 | 40.6 | 27.5 | 81.9 |
| 2025 | 44.9 | 21.2 | 66.0 |
Robberies per 100,000 residents
Lincoln’s police reported 6 homicides, 136 robberies and 1,277 violent crimes in all to the FBI in 2025. By year, against the rest of Nebraska and all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables.
Crime in Lincoln 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 4 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
7,008 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.
1,277 violent and 5,731 property, as reported to the FBI by Lincoln’s police.
84 people died in crashes on Lincoln’s roads in 2019–2023
Lincoln had 76 fatal crashes in five years, in which 84 people died; 7 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist. 7 died in crashes on an Interstate.
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.
Lincoln and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln | C− | 3.8 | 23.4 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
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 Lincoln. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Lincoln’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (302,860 in 2025); our figure for Lincoln is 301,522 (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 Lincoln
Is Lincoln, NE safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Lincoln reports more crime per resident than 83% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade. Its police reported 3.8 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.4 in the rest of Nebraska and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Lincoln?
3.8 violent and 23.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Nebraska reports 2.4 and 19.6; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Lincoln in 2025?
Lincoln’s police reported 6 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 2.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Lincoln?
Lincoln’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Lincoln”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Lincoln.
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.