Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Buffalo reports more crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Buffalo’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D− for safety: #233 of 236 graded towns in New York, and #277 of 325 U.S. cities over 100,000.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of NY” is every other New York 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 Buffalo
4 of the 4 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 6 New York towns on Buffalo’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: West Seneca (C+), Amherst (C), Lackawanna (C), Cheektowaga (D). Tonawanda reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023. Sloan has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Homicides: above U.S. cities overall
Buffalo’s police reported 30 homicides to the FBI in 2025. Over 2023–2025 that is 12.5 per 100,000 residents a year, 3.8 times the rest of New York (3.3) and 2.2 times all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (5.7). Violent crime ↓
Robberies: above the rest of New York
166 robberies per 100,000 residents a year over 2023–2025 (442 reported in 2025), above the rest of New York (132) and 2.1 times 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, Buffalo reports less crime per resident than 15% (#277). 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 Buffalo’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.
Homicides and robberies
Buffalo’s police reported 30 homicides, 442 robberies and 2,016 violent crimes in all to the FBI in 2025. By year, against the rest of New York and all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables.
Show as a table
| Year | Buffalo | Rest of New York | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 24.3 | 4.6 | 7.7 |
| 2023 | 14.1 | 3.7 | 6.8 |
| 2024 | 12.4 | 3.4 | 5.7 |
| 2025 | 10.9 | 2.9 | 4.6 |
Homicides per 100,000 residents
Show as a table
| Year | Buffalo | Rest of New York | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 193 | 152 | 95.5 |
| 2023 | 181 | 143 | 90.6 |
| 2024 | 158 | 131 | 81.9 |
| 2025 | 160 | 123 | 66.0 |
Robberies per 100,000 residents
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 New York.
Show as a table
| Year | Buffalo property | Rest of New York property | Buffalo violent | Rest of New York violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 32.1 | 19.7 | 7.4 | 5.6 |
| 2023 | 41.8 | 21.8 | 7.5 | 5.0 |
| 2024 | 38.1 | 20.9 | 7.1 | 5.0 |
| 2025 | 33.8 | 19.4 | 7.3 | 4.8 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 34 property crimes reported
And about 7 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.
11,352 crimes reported in 2025
2,016 violent and 9,336 property, as reported to the FBI by Buffalo’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
100 people died in crashes on Buffalo’s roads in 2019–2023
Buffalo had 91 fatal crashes in five years, in which 100 people died; 25 were pedestrians and 8 were cyclists. 9 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 7.2 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for New York towns of 100,000+ people (6.3, 16 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.
Buffalo and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo | D− | 7.3 | 37.9 |
| Cheektowaga | D | 2.3 | 33.7 |
| Amherst | C | 1.3 | 20.6 |
| West Seneca | C+ | 1.2 | 16.4 |
| Lackawanna | C | 3.4 | 17.4 |
| Tonawanda | — | — | — |
| Sloan | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Tonawanda reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023. Sloan has no FBI figures of its own for 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 Buffalo. 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 Buffalo’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (276,384 in 2025); our figure for Buffalo is 274,613 (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 Buffalo
Is Buffalo, NY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Buffalo reports more crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade and #233 of 236 in New York. Its police reported 7.3 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the rest of New York and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Buffalo?
7.3 violent and 37.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of New York reports 4.9 and 20.7; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Buffalo?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Buffalo in 2025?
Buffalo’s police reported 30 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 10.9 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Buffalo safer than Cheektowaga?
Cheektowaga reports less crime per resident than Buffalo: Cheektowaga grades D for safety and Buffalo D−. Cheektowaga’s police reported 2.3 violent and 33.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Buffalo?
Buffalo’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Buffalo”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Buffalo.
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.