Garrison Cemetery · Photo: Shinerunner · CC BY-SA 3.0Per resident, Cheektowaga records more property crime than nine in ten U.S. towns
Overall, Cheektowaga grades D for safety (#210 of 236 graded towns in New York): more crime per resident than 86% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. 3 of the 4 towns next door with figures record less crime per resident. Police counts work out at 2.3 violent crimes and 33.7 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the rest of New York they are 5.0 and 21.0. The graded rate fell 15% from 2023 to 2025.
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 Cheektowaga
3 of the 4 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 6 New York towns on Cheektowaga’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Lancaster (B+), West Seneca (C+), Amherst (C), Buffalo (D−). Sloan and Williamsville have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
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 Cheektowaga’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 (2.3) 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 per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Cheektowaga property | Rest of New York property | Cheektowaga violent | Rest of New York violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 32.8 | 19.9 | 2.8 | 5.6 |
| 2023 | 37.1 | 22.1 | 2.6 | 5.1 |
| 2024 | 32.2 | 21.2 | 2.1 | 5.0 |
| 2025 | 31.8 | 19.6 | 2.2 | 4.9 |
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 New York.
Crime in Cheektowaga 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 2 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Cheektowaga | Rest of New York | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.8 | 5.6 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.6 | 5.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.1 | 5.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.2 | 4.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Cheektowaga’s police reported 544 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.3 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.0 in the rest of New York and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
2,685 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.
173 violent and 2,512 property, as reported to the FBI by Cheektowaga’s police.
25 people died in crashes on Cheektowaga’s roads in 2019–2023
Cheektowaga had 25 fatal crashes in five years, in which 25 people died; 5 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist. 1 died in crash on an Interstate.
That is 5.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for New York towns of 25,000–100,000 people (4.5, 116 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.
Cheektowaga and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheektowaga | D | 2.3 | 33.7 |
| West Seneca | C+ | 1.2 | 16.4 |
| Amherst | C | 1.3 | 20.6 |
| Buffalo | D− | 7.3 | 37.9 |
| Lancaster | B+ | 0.5 | 9.8 |
| Sloan | — | — | — |
| Williamsville | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Sloan and Williamsville have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
New York towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheektowaga | D | 2.3 | 33.7 |
| Greenburgh | B− | 0.7 | 14.4 |
| New Rochelle | B− | 1.5 | 12.2 |
| Clarkstown | B− | 0.9 | 16.4 |
| Greece | C+ | 1.5 | 19.1 |
| Colonie | C− | 1.4 | 32.8 |
The five graded New York towns closest to Cheektowaga’s population (88,160), by grade.
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 Cheektowaga. 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 Cheektowaga’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (79,099 in 2025); our figure for Cheektowaga is 88,160 (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 Cheektowaga
Is Cheektowaga, NY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Cheektowaga reports more crime per resident than 86% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #210 of 236 in New York. Its police reported 2.3 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.0 in the rest of New York and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Cheektowaga?
2.3 violent and 33.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of New York reports 5.0 and 21.0; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Cheektowaga in 2025?
Cheektowaga’s police reported 2 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 2.5 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Cheektowaga safer than West Seneca?
West Seneca reports less crime per resident than Cheektowaga: West Seneca grades C+ for safety and Cheektowaga D. West Seneca’s police reported 1.2 violent and 16.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Cheektowaga?
Cheektowaga’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Cheektowaga Town”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Cheektowaga.
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.