Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0More property crime is recorded per resident in Oswego than in 91% of U.S. towns
The rate the grade counts dropped 38% from 2023 to 2025. By contrast, its Safety Grade is D, on crimes Oswego’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #210 of 236 graded towns in New York. For every 1,000 residents, 2.9 violent crimes and 30.5 incidents of property crime were logged a year; in the rest of New York, the figures are 5.0 and 21.0.
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 Oswego
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 Oswego’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 per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Oswego property | Rest of New York property | Oswego violent | Rest of New York violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 34.4 | 19.9 | 4.0 | 5.6 |
| 2023 | 35.0 | 22.2 | 2.7 | 5.1 |
| 2024 | 35.5 | 21.2 | 3.4 | 5.0 |
| 2025 | 20.8 | 19.7 | 2.6 | 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 Oswego 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 3 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 | Oswego | Rest of New York | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.0 | 5.6 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.7 | 5.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.4 | 5.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.6 | 4.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Oswego’s police reported 150 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.0 in the rest of New York and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
401 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.
45 violent and 356 property, as reported to the FBI by Oswego’s police.
Seven people died in crashes on Oswego’s roads in 2019–2023
Oswego had 7 fatal crashes in five years, in which seven people died; 2 were pedestrians and 2 were cyclists.
That is about what is typical for New York towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (5.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Oswego’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Oswego’s own rate (8.2) 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.
Oswego and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oswego | D | 2.9 | 30.5 |
| Oswego (township) | — | — | — |
| Minetto | — | — | — |
| Scriba | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Oswego (township), Minetto and Scriba have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
New York towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oswego | D | 2.9 | 30.5 |
| Bedford | A+ | 0.2 | 2.1 |
| Rye | A+ | 0.1 | 2.7 |
| East Greenbush | B− | 1.0 | 15.6 |
| Geddes | C+ | 1.0 | 17.5 |
| Cortland | C− | 2.7 | 29.0 |
The five graded New York towns closest to Oswego’s population (17,024), 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 Oswego. 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 Oswego’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (17,078 in 2025); our figure for Oswego is 17,024 (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 Oswego
Is Oswego, NY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Oswego 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 2.9 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 Oswego?
2.9 violent and 30.5 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.
Who polices Oswego?
Oswego’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Oswego City”. 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 Oswego.
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.