Photo: Kosboot · CC BY-SA 4.0On violent crime, Southold has a lower rate per resident than 83% of U.S. towns
Overall, Southold grades B+ for safety (#100 of 236 graded towns in New York): less crime per resident than 73% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Even so, 2 of the 3 towns next door with figures record less crime per resident. For every 1,000 residents, 0.5 violent crime and 8.3 incidents of property crime were logged a year; in the rest of New York, the figures are 5.0 and 21.1. The crimes the grade counts held steady 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 Southold
2 of the 3 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 4 New York towns on Southold’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Shelter Island (A−), Southampton (A−), Riverhead (C). East Hampton has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Among New York towns, closer to the middle
New York’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Southold’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 58% of the 236 New York towns we grade, against 73% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Southold’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 lower than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Southold | Rest of New York | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.6 | 5.6 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.4 | 5.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.5 | 5.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.7 | 4.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Southold’s police reported 35 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 Southold 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.
How crime in Southold has moved
Show as a table
| Year | Southold property | Rest of New York property | Southold violent | Rest of New York violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 14.5 | 20.0 | 0.6 | 5.6 |
| 2023 | 8.4 | 22.3 | 0.4 | 5.1 |
| 2024 | 8.9 | 21.3 | 0.5 | 5.0 |
| 2025 | 7.7 | 19.7 | 0.7 | 4.9 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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.
182 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.
15 violent and 167 property, as reported to the FBI by Southold’s police.
18 people died in crashes on Southold’s roads in 2019–2023
Southold had 14 fatal crashes in five years, in which 18 people died; 2 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
That is 15.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for New York towns of 5,000–25,000 people (5.9, 517 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.
Southold and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southold | B+ | 0.5 | 8.3 |
| East Hampton | — | — | — |
| Shelter Island | A− | 0.7 | 5.5 |
| Riverhead | C | 1.1 | 21.8 |
| Southampton | A− | 0.5 | 7.0 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. East Hampton has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
New York towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southold | B+ | 0.5 | 8.3 |
| Montgomery | A | 0.5 | 4.6 |
| Camillus | B+ | 0.5 | 8.2 |
| Niskayuna | C+ | 0.7 | 19.8 |
| Kingston | C | 3.0 | 14.6 |
| Watertown | D | 5.5 | 39.9 |
The five graded New York towns closest to Southold’s population (24,260), 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 Southold. 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 Southold’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (21,579 in 2025); our figure for Southold is 24,260 (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 Southold
Is Southold, NY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Southold reports less crime per resident than 73% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #100 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 Southold?
0.5 violent and 8.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of New York reports 5.0 and 21.1; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is Southold safer than Shelter Island?
Shelter Island reports less crime per resident than Southold: Shelter Island grades A− for safety and Southold B+. Shelter Island’s police reported 0.7 violent and 5.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Southold?
Southold’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Southold Town”. 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 Southold.
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.