Photo: Don O'Brien from Piketon, Ohio, United States · CC BY 2.0Vestal sees less violence than most U.S. towns, but more property crime
None of the 3 towns next door with figures records less crime per resident. The crimes the grade counts fell 15% per resident from 2023 to 2025. Overall, Vestal grades C+ for safety (#161 of 236 graded towns in New York): more crime per resident than 60% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported in 2023–2025. The local count comes to 0.5 violent crime and 21.1 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 5.0 and 21.0 in the rest of New York.
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 Vestal
Vestal reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 6 New York towns on Vestal’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Endicott (D), Johnson City (D), Binghamton (D). Union, Binghamton (township) and Owego have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
A college town
Vestal is home to Binghamton University, with 18,046 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 33% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. 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 Vestal’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Vestal’s grade up; property crime pulls it down.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Vestal | Rest of New York | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.9 | 5.6 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.5 | 5.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.5 | 5.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.5 | 4.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Vestal’s police reported 48 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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Vestal property | Rest of New York property | Vestal violent | Rest of New York violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 22.6 | 19.9 | 0.9 | 5.6 |
| 2023 | 20.1 | 22.2 | 0.5 | 5.1 |
| 2024 | 26.2 | 21.2 | 0.5 | 5.0 |
| 2025 | 17.0 | 19.7 | 0.5 | 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 Vestal 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.
569 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.
17 violent and 552 property, as reported to the FBI by Vestal’s police.
Seven people died in crashes on Vestal’s roads in 2019–2023
Vestal had 6 fatal crashes in five years, in which seven people died; 1 was a pedestrian and 1 was a cyclist.
That is about what is typical for New York towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (4.5 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Vestal’s size would see about 7 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Vestal’s own rate (4.5) 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.
Vestal and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vestal | C+ | 0.5 | 21.1 |
| Union | — | — | — |
| Binghamton (township) | — | — | — |
| Johnson City | D | 3.3 | 40.1 |
| Owego | — | — | — |
| Binghamton (city) | D | 5.8 | 33.7 |
| Endicott | D | 3.8 | 29.1 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Union, Binghamton (township) and Owego have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
New York towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vestal | C+ | 0.5 | 21.1 |
| Wallkill | B+ | 0.3 | 9.4 |
| Port Chester | B+ | 0.6 | 8.9 |
| Manlius | B | 0.7 | 11.7 |
| Rome | C | 2.2 | 18.2 |
| Poughkeepsie | C− | 6.1 | 15.1 |
The five graded New York towns closest to Vestal’s population (32,055), 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 Vestal. 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 Vestal’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (32,515 in 2025); our figure for Vestal is 32,055 (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 Vestal
Is Vestal, NY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Vestal reports more crime per resident than 60% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #161 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 Vestal?
0.5 violent and 21.1 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 Vestal in 2025?
Vestal’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 Vestal safer than Johnson City?
Johnson City reports more crime per resident than Vestal: Johnson City grades D for safety and Vestal C+. Johnson City’s police reported 3.3 violent and 40.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Vestal?
Vestal’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Vestal Town”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Vestal.
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.