Photo: WeaponizingArchitecture · CC BY-SA 4.0Lorain reports more crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Lorain’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C− for safety: #260 of 296 graded towns in Ohio.
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 Lorain
3 of the 3 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 8 Ohio towns on Lorain’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Vermilion (A+), Sheffield Lake (B+), Amherst (B). Sheffield reported to the FBI for 2023 but not 2024 or 2025. Sheffield Township, Elyria Township, Brownhelm Township and Amherst Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Lorain’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; property crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its property rate (15.6) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
For every 1,000 residents, about 13 property crimes reported
And about 6 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Lorain’s police reported 1,066 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 5.4 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 | Lorain | Rest of Ohio | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.7 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.8 | 3.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 5.8 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 5.6 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Reported crime is steady
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 Ohio.
Show as a table
| Year | Lorain property | Rest of Ohio property | Lorain violent | Rest of Ohio violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 18.2 | 22.6 | 4.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 18.1 | 21.1 | 4.8 | 3.7 |
| 2024 | 15.5 | 19.9 | 5.8 | 3.8 |
| 2025 | 13.3 | 17.9 | 5.6 | 3.5 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
1,249 crimes reported in 2025
372 violent and 877 property, as reported to the FBI by Lorain’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
22 people died in crashes on Lorain’s roads in 2019–2023
Lorain had 21 fatal crashes in five years, in which 22 people died; 3 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
That is 6.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Ohio towns of 25,000–100,000 people (4.7, 98 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.
Lorain and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lorain | C− | 5.4 | 15.6 |
| Sheffield | — | — | — |
| Sheffield Township | — | — | — |
| Amherst | B | 1.2 | 8.8 |
| Elyria Township | — | — | — |
| Brownhelm Township | — | — | — |
| Amherst Township | — | — | — |
| Vermilion | A+ | 0.2 | 2.8 |
| Sheffield Lake | B+ | 1.7 | 5.8 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Sheffield reported to the FBI for 2023 but not 2024 or 2025. Sheffield Township, Elyria Township, Brownhelm Township and Amherst Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Ohio towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lorain | C− | 5.4 | 15.6 |
| West Chester Township | B− | 1.0 | 14.7 |
| Green Township | B− | 1.2 | 14.0 |
| Colerain Township | C | 2.2 | 19.0 |
| Hamilton | C− | 3.0 | 20.9 |
| Canton | D− | 10.7 | 37.0 |
The five graded Ohio towns closest to Lorain’s population (65,366), 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 Lorain. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Lorain’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (65,882 in 2025); our figure for Lorain is 65,366 (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 Lorain
Is Lorain, OH safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Lorain reports more crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #260 of 296 in Ohio. Its police reported 5.4 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 Lorain?
5.4 violent and 15.6 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 Lorain?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Lorain in 2025?
Lorain’s police reported 3 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 4.6 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Lorain safer than Amherst?
Amherst reports less crime per resident than Lorain: Amherst grades B for safety and Lorain C−. Amherst’s police reported 1.2 violent and 8.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Lorain?
Lorain’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Lorain”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Lorain.
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.