Photo: JonRidinger · CC BY-SA 4.0Reported crime per resident in Kent fell 31% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, Kent grades B− for safety (#156 of 296 graded towns in Ohio): close to the middle 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 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 Kent
1 of the 3 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 4 Ohio towns on Kent’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Tallmadge (B), Stow (B−), Brimfield Township (C+). Franklin Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
A college town
Kent is home to Kent State University at Kent, with 21,683 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 37% 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 Kent’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 is falling
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Kent property | Rest of Ohio property | Kent violent | Rest of Ohio violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 11.8 | 22.6 | 1.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 12.4 | 21.1 | 1.6 | 3.8 |
| 2024 | 12.7 | 19.8 | 1.3 | 3.9 |
| 2025 | 7.8 | 17.9 | 1.8 | 3.5 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Kent’s police reported 128 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.6 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.7 in the rest of Ohio and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Kent | Rest of Ohio | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.4 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.6 | 3.8 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.3 | 3.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.8 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 8 property crimes reported
And about 2 violent crimes, 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.
268 crimes reported in 2025
51 violent and 217 property, as reported to the FBI by Kent’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Three people died in crashes on Kent’s roads in 2019–2023
Kent had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which three people died.
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 Kent’s size would see about 6 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Kent’s own rate (2.2) 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.
Kent and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kent | B− | 1.6 | 11.0 |
| Franklin Township | — | — | — |
| Brimfield Township | C+ | 0.7 | 20.8 |
| Stow | B− | 1.1 | 16.1 |
| Tallmadge | B | 1.0 | 9.8 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Franklin Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Ohio towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kent | B− | 1.6 | 11.0 |
| Genoa Township | A+ | 0.1 | 3.0 |
| Troy | B | 1.0 | 9.4 |
| Perry Township | B | 0.9 | 9.4 |
| Wooster | C | 2.6 | 20.0 |
| Garfield Heights | C− | 4.6 | 17.8 |
The five graded Ohio towns closest to Kent’s population (27,737), 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 Kent. 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 Kent’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (27,693 in 2025); our figure for Kent is 27,737 (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 Kent
Is Kent, OH safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Kent reports less crime per resident than 53% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #156 of 296 in Ohio. Its police reported 1.6 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 Kent?
1.6 violent and 11.0 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.
Is crime going up or down in Kent?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Kent in 2025?
Kent’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 Kent safer than Brimfield Township?
Brimfield Township reports more crime per resident than Kent: Brimfield Township grades C+ for safety and Kent B−. Brimfield Township’s police reported 0.7 violent and 20.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Kent?
Kent’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Kent”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Kent.
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.