Photo: Sixflashphoto · CC BY-SA 4.0Obetz sits close to the middle of U.S. towns for reported crime
Overall, Obetz grades B for safety (#147 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 Obetz
2 of the 3 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 4 Ohio towns on Obetz’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Madison Township (A), Groveport (B), Columbus (D). Hamilton Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
A job center
Obetz has 13,188 jobs based in town for 7,342 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Obetz’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Obetz’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (12.1) 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Obetz’s police reported 25 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.2 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 | Obetz | Rest of Ohio | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.3 | 3.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.1 | 3.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.1 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 10 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, 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.
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 | Obetz property | Rest of Ohio property | Obetz violent | Rest of Ohio violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 18.6 | 22.6 | 1.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 15.7 | 21.1 | 1.3 | 3.7 |
| 2024 | 11.0 | 19.8 | 1.1 | 3.9 |
| 2025 | 10.3 | 17.9 | 1.1 | 3.5 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
90 crimes reported in 2025
9 violent and 81 property, as reported to the FBI by Obetz’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Four people died in crashes on Obetz’s roads in 2019–2023
Obetz had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which four people died. Most of these deaths (2 of 4) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
That is about what is typical for Ohio towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (6.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Obetz’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Obetz’s own rate (10.9) 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.
Obetz and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obetz | B | 1.2 | 12.1 |
| Columbus | D | 4.0 | 26.2 |
| Hamilton Township | — | — | — |
| Groveport | B | 1.4 | 9.0 |
| Madison Township | A | 0.6 | 2.8 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Hamilton Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Ohio towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obetz | B | 1.2 | 12.1 |
| Bellbrook | A | 0.3 | 3.7 |
| Mentor-on-the-Lake | A− | 1.0 | 5.5 |
| Union | B+ | 0.9 | 9.0 |
| Independence | B− | 1.5 | 11.5 |
| Hubbard | B− | 2.0 | 10.8 |
The five graded Ohio towns closest to Obetz’s population (7,342), 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 Obetz. 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 Obetz’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (7,844 in 2025); our figure for Obetz is 7,342 (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 Obetz
Is Obetz, OH safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Obetz reports less crime per resident than 55% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #147 of 296 in Ohio. Its police reported 1.2 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 Obetz?
1.2 violent and 12.1 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 Obetz?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Obetz safer than Columbus?
Columbus reports more crime per resident than Obetz: Columbus grades D for safety and Obetz B. Columbus’s police reported 4.0 violent and 26.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Obetz?
Obetz’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Obetz”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Obetz.
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.