Trinity Episcopal Church and Parish House · Photo: Stephen Schweitzer · CC BY-SA 4.0Watertown records more crime per resident than 94% of U.S. towns
It has more violent crime than 90% of U.S. towns, and more property crime than 96%. What’s more, the Safety Grade comes out at D, drawn from crimes Watertown’s police reported through 2023 to 2025: #226 of 236 graded towns in New York. Recorded violent crimes ran at 5.5 per 1,000 residents a year and property crime at 39.9, against 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’s behind Watertown’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.
Crime in Watertown 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 6 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 | Watertown | Rest of New York | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.4 | 5.6 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 5.0 | 5.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 5.5 | 4.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Watertown’s police reported 398 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 5.5 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 is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Watertown property | Rest of New York property | Watertown violent | Rest of New York violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 41.1 | 19.9 | 6.4 | 5.6 |
| 2023 | 40.9 | 22.2 | 5.0 | 5.1 |
| 2024 | 39.3 | 21.2 | 6.0 | 5.0 |
| 2025 | 39.4 | 19.7 | 5.5 | 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.
1,074 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.
131 violent and 943 property, as reported to the FBI by Watertown’s police.
Five people died in crashes on Watertown’s roads in 2019–2023
Watertown had 5 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died; 4 were pedestrians.
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 Watertown’s size would see about 7 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Watertown’s own rate (4.1) 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.
Watertown and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Watertown | D | 5.5 | 39.9 |
| Watertown (township) | — | — | — |
| Pamelia | — | — | — |
| Le Ray | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Watertown (township), Pamelia and Le Ray have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
New York towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Watertown | D | 5.5 | 39.9 |
| Montgomery | A | 0.5 | 4.6 |
| Garden City | A− | 0.2 | 8.0 |
| Southold | B+ | 0.5 | 8.3 |
| Niskayuna | C+ | 0.7 | 19.8 |
| Kingston | C | 3.0 | 14.6 |
The five graded New York towns closest to Watertown’s population (23,517), 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 Watertown. 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 Watertown’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (23,911 in 2025); our figure for Watertown is 23,517 (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 Watertown
Is Watertown, NY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Watertown reports more crime per resident than 94% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #226 of 236 in New York. Its police reported 5.5 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 Watertown?
5.5 violent and 39.9 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 Watertown?
Watertown’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Watertown”. 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 Watertown.
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.