Photo: Art Anderson · CC BY-SA 3.0Per resident, Van Wert records more property crime than 85% of U.S. towns
The graded rate fell 41% from 2023 to 2025. Per 1,000 residents a year, 2.9 violent crimes and 24.5 incidents of property crime were recorded, against 3.7 and 19.6 in the rest of Ohio. Overall, it grades C− for safety (#258 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 Van Wert
A job center
Van Wert has 7,439 jobs based in town for 11,200 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. 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 Van Wert’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 (2.9) 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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Van Wert property | Rest of Ohio property | Van Wert violent | Rest of Ohio violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 23.4 | 22.6 | 3.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 25.4 | 21.0 | 4.4 | 3.7 |
| 2024 | 32.5 | 19.8 | 2.4 | 3.9 |
| 2025 | 15.6 | 17.8 | 1.9 | 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.
Crime in Van Wert 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 2 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Van Wert | Rest of Ohio | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.2 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.4 | 3.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.4 | 3.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.9 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Van Wert’s police reported 96 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.7 in the rest of Ohio and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
195 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. 2025 figures come from FBI Crime Data Explorer, which publishes violent crime, homicides, robberies and property crime only.
21 violent and 174 property, as reported to the FBI by Van Wert’s police.
No one died in a crash on Van Wert’s roads in 2019–2023
That is fewer than 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 Van Wert’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Van Wert’s own rate (0.0) 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.
Van Wert and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Van Wert | C− | 2.9 | 24.5 |
| Ridge Township | — | — | — |
| Pleasant Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Ridge Township and Pleasant Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Ohio towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Van Wert | C− | 2.9 | 24.5 |
| Montgomery | A− | 0.4 | 6.3 |
| Seven Hills | B+ | 0.6 | 8.7 |
| Ravenna | C+ | 1.4 | 17.2 |
| Urbana | C+ | 1.4 | 18.5 |
| Springdale | C− | 3.7 | 24.0 |
The five graded Ohio towns closest to Van Wert’s population (11,200), 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 Van Wert. 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 Van Wert’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (11,127 in 2025); our figure for Van Wert is 11,200 (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 Van Wert
Is Van Wert, OH safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Van Wert reports more crime per resident than 80% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #258 of 296 in Ohio. Its police reported 2.9 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 Van Wert?
2.9 violent and 24.5 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 Van Wert?
Van Wert’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Van Wert Police Department”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Van Wert.
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.