Photo: Tma169 · CC BY-SA 4.0The crimes the grade counts fell 59% per resident in Bowling Green from 2023 to 2025
Typical years here bring 0.5 violent crime plus 9.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 3.7 plus 19.6 in the rest of Ohio. All told, Bowling Green grades B+ for safety (#91 of 296 graded towns in Ohio): less crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of OH” is every other Ohio 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 Bowling Green
A college town
Bowling Green is home to Bowling Green State University-Main Campus, with 14,599 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 38% 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 Bowling Green’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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Bowling Green property | Rest of Ohio property | Bowling Green violent | Rest of Ohio violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 13.4 | 22.6 | 0.5 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 13.4 | 21.1 | 0.5 | 3.8 |
| 2024 | 9.6 | 19.9 | 0.7 | 3.9 |
| 2025 | 5.4 | 17.9 | 0.2 | 3.5 |
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 Ohio.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Bowling Green | Rest of Ohio | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.5 | 3.8 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.7 | 3.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.2 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Bowling Green’s police reported 42 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.5 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.7 in the rest of Ohio and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Bowling Green 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 fewer than 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
172 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.
7 violent and 165 property, as reported to the FBI by Bowling Green’s police.
Four people died in crashes on Bowling Green’s roads in 2019–2023
Bowling Green had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which four people died; 1 was a pedestrian and 1 was a cyclist.
That is about what is typical for Ohio towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (4.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Bowling Green’s size would see about 7 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Bowling Green’s own rate (2.7) 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.
Bowling Green and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bowling Green | B+ | 0.5 | 9.4 |
| Center Township | — | — | — |
| Plain Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Center Township and Plain Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Ohio towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bowling Green | B+ | 0.5 | 9.4 |
| Hamilton Township | A | 0.4 | 3.1 |
| North Olmsted | B+ | 0.5 | 8.3 |
| Marysville | B | 0.7 | 10.7 |
| Delhi Township | B− | 1.4 | 12.1 |
| Massillon | C+ | 2.5 | 13.5 |
The five graded Ohio towns closest to Bowling Green’s population (31,182), 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 Bowling Green. 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 Bowling Green’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (30,411 in 2025); our figure for Bowling Green is 31,182 (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 Bowling Green
Is Bowling Green, OH safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Bowling Green reports less crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #91 of 296 in Ohio. Its police reported 0.5 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.7 in the rest of Ohio and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Bowling Green?
0.5 violent and 9.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Ohio reports 3.7 and 19.6; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Bowling Green in 2025?
Bowling Green’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.
Who polices Bowling Green?
Bowling Green’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Bowling Green”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Bowling Green.
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.