Lakewood has less violence than most U.S. towns, but more property crime
Overall, Lakewood grades C for safety (#187 of 236 graded towns in New York): more crime per resident than 72% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. For every 1,000 residents, 0.5 violent crime and 28.0 incidents of property crime were logged a year; in the rest of New York, the figures are 5.0 and 21.0. The crimes the grade counts fell 31% per resident 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 Lakewood
Lakewood reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 2 New York towns on Lakewood’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Ellicott (C−). Busti has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
A job center
Lakewood has 1,754 jobs based in town for 2,922 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.
What’s behind Lakewood’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Lakewood’s grade up; property crime pulls it down.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Lakewood property | Rest of New York property | Lakewood violent | Rest of New York violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 40.0 | 19.9 | 0.3 | 5.6 |
| 2023 | 30.9 | 22.2 | 0.4 | 5.1 |
| 2024 | 32.0 | 21.2 | 0.4 | 5.0 |
| 2025 | 20.9 | 19.7 | 0.7 | 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Lakewood | Rest of New York | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.3 | 5.6 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.4 | 5.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.4 | 5.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.7 | 4.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Lakewood’s police reported 11 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.5 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.0 in the rest of New York and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Lakewood 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 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
158 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.
5 violent and 153 property, as reported to the FBI by Lakewood’s police.
One person died in crashes on Lakewood’s roads in 2019–2023
Lakewood had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
That is about what is typical for New York towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (6.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Lakewood’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Lakewood’s own rate (6.8) is context, not a ranking.
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.
Lakewood and its neighbors
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Busti has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
New York towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lakewood | C | 0.5 | 28.0 |
| Sherrill | A+ | 0.0 | 1.6 |
| Akron | A+ | 0.1 | 1.5 |
| Florida | A+ | 0.1 | 1.5 |
| Cornwall-on-Hudson | A+ | 0.0 | 2.7 |
| Greenwood Lake | A | 1.1 | 1.7 |
The five graded New York towns closest to Lakewood’s population (2,922), 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 Lakewood. 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 Lakewood’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (7,334 in 2025); our figure for Lakewood is 2,922 (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 Lakewood
Is Lakewood, NY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Lakewood reports more crime per resident than 72% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #187 of 236 in New York. Its police reported 0.5 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 Lakewood?
0.5 violent and 28.0 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.
Is Lakewood safer than Ellicott?
Ellicott reports more crime per resident than Lakewood: Ellicott grades C− for safety and Lakewood C. Ellicott’s police reported 1.3 violent and 30.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Lakewood?
Lakewood’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Lakewood-Busti”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Lakewood.
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.