Photo: USDA Forest Service photo by Kyle Brooks · CC BY-SA 4.0On property crime, Nelsonville has a higher rate per resident than 79% of U.S. towns
The crimes the grade counts held steady per resident from 2023 to 2025. Violence and property crime split as 2.4 violent crimes and 20.6 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 3.7 and 19.6 in the rest of Ohio. Nelsonville’s overall Safety Grade is C (#238 of 296 graded towns in Ohio): more crime per resident than 73% 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 Nelsonville
A college town
Nelsonville is home to Hocking College, with 1,600 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 14% 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 ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Nelsonville’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. Its violent rate (2.4) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Nelsonville | Rest of Ohio | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.4 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.1 | 3.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.6 | 3.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.6 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Nelsonville’s police reported 33 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.4 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 Nelsonville 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 3 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
How crime in Nelsonville has moved
Show as a table
| Year | Nelsonville property | Rest of Ohio property | Nelsonville violent | Rest of Ohio violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 15.9 | 22.6 | 2.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 17.9 | 21.1 | 3.1 | 3.7 |
| 2024 | 25.6 | 19.8 | 1.6 | 3.9 |
| 2025 | 18.3 | 17.8 | 2.6 | 3.5 |
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 Ohio.
95 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.
12 violent and 83 property, as reported to the FBI by Nelsonville’s police.
One person died in crashes on Nelsonville’s roads in 2019–2023
Nelsonville had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
That is about what is typical for Ohio towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (9.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Nelsonville’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Nelsonville’s own rate (4.7) 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.
Nelsonville and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nelsonville | C | 2.4 | 20.6 |
| Ward Township | — | — | — |
| York Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Ward Township and York Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Ohio towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nelsonville | C | 2.4 | 20.6 |
| Ottawa | A | 0.9 | 3.2 |
| Mount Orab | B+ | 1.5 | 6.3 |
| East Palestine | B | 1.4 | 11.1 |
| Archbold | B− | 2.2 | 8.3 |
| Georgetown | B− | 1.7 | 10.7 |
The five graded Ohio towns closest to Nelsonville’s population (4,488), 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 Nelsonville. 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 Nelsonville’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (4,544 in 2025); our figure for Nelsonville is 4,488 (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 Nelsonville
Is Nelsonville, OH safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Nelsonville reports more crime per resident than 73% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #238 of 296 in Ohio. Its police reported 2.4 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 Nelsonville?
2.4 violent and 20.6 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.
Who polices Nelsonville?
Nelsonville’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Nelsonville”. 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 Nelsonville.
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.