Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Riverhead reports less violent crime than most U.S. towns, but more property crime
Overall, Riverhead grades C for safety (#177 of 236 graded towns in New York): more crime per resident than 66% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
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 Riverhead
2 of the 2 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 3 New York towns on Riverhead’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Southampton (A−), Southold (B+). Brookhaven has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Riverhead’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Riverhead’s grade up; property crime pulls it down.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Riverhead’s police reported 122 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.1 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.0 in the rest of New York and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Riverhead | Rest of New York | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.2 | 5.6 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.2 | 5.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.2 | 4.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 19 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, 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.
Reported crime is steady
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of New York.
Show as a table
| Year | Riverhead property | Rest of New York property | Riverhead violent | Rest of New York violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 20.6 | 19.9 | 1.2 | 5.6 |
| 2023 | 21.3 | 22.2 | 1.2 | 5.1 |
| 2024 | 25.2 | 21.2 | 1.0 | 5.0 |
| 2025 | 18.7 | 19.7 | 1.2 | 4.9 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
720 crimes reported in 2025
43 violent and 677 property, as reported to the FBI by Riverhead’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
24 people died in crashes on Riverhead’s roads in 2019–2023
Riverhead had 24 fatal crashes in five years, in which 24 people died; 5 were pedestrians. 2 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 13.3 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.
Riverhead and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverhead | C | 1.1 | 21.8 |
| Brookhaven | — | — | — |
| Southampton | A− | 0.5 | 7.0 |
| Southold | B+ | 0.5 | 8.3 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Brookhaven has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
New York towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverhead | C | 1.1 | 21.8 |
| Long Beach | A | 0.7 | 1.1 |
| Yorktown | A− | 0.4 | 6.0 |
| Bethlehem | B+ | 0.4 | 9.6 |
| Guilderland | B− | 1.0 | 16.5 |
| Brighton | C+ | 0.8 | 22.1 |
The five graded New York towns closest to Riverhead’s population (36,394), by grade.
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 Riverhead. 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 Riverhead’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (36,118 in 2025); our figure for Riverhead is 36,394 (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 Riverhead
Is Riverhead, NY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Riverhead reports more crime per resident than 66% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #177 of 236 in New York. Its police reported 1.1 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 Riverhead?
1.1 violent and 21.8 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 crime going up or down in Riverhead?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Riverhead in 2025?
Riverhead’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Riverhead safer than Southampton?
Southampton reports less crime per resident than Riverhead: Southampton grades A− for safety and Riverhead C. Southampton’s police reported 0.5 violent and 7.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Riverhead?
Riverhead’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Riverhead Town”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Riverhead.
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.