Photo: Nyttend · Public domainIn West Jefferson, the kinds of crime the grade counts fell 72% per resident from 2023 to 2025
Typical years here bring 0.6 violent crime plus 10.8 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 3.7 plus 19.6 in the rest of Ohio. All told, West Jefferson grades B for safety (#116 of 296 graded towns in Ohio): less crime per resident than 64% 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 West Jefferson
A job center
West Jefferson has 8,125 jobs based in town for 5,827 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 West Jefferson’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 per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | West Jefferson property | Rest of Ohio property | West Jefferson violent | Rest of Ohio violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12.3 | 22.6 | 2.3 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 17.9 | 21.1 | 1.4 | 3.7 |
| 2024 | 10.6 | 19.8 | 0.4 | 3.9 |
| 2025 | 5.2 | 17.9 | 0.2 | 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | West Jefferson | Rest of Ohio | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.3 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.4 | 3.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.4 | 3.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.2 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
West Jefferson’s police reported 9 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.6 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 West Jefferson 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 fewer than 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
28 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.
1 violent and 27 property, as reported to the FBI by West Jefferson’s police.
No one died in a crash on West Jefferson’s roads in 2019–2023
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 West Jefferson’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so West Jefferson’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.
West Jefferson and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Jefferson | B | 0.6 | 10.8 |
| Jefferson Township | — | — | — |
| Lake Darby | — | — | — |
| Prairie Township | — | — | — |
| Brown Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Jefferson Township, Prairie Township and Brown Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Lake Darby is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
Ohio towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Jefferson | B | 0.6 | 10.8 |
| Grafton | A+ | 0.1 | 2.2 |
| Germantown | B+ | 1.0 | 7.7 |
| Groveport | B | 1.4 | 9.0 |
| Bazetta Township | B− | 0.8 | 16.2 |
| Port Clinton | C+ | 3.0 | 10.4 |
The five graded Ohio towns closest to West Jefferson’s population (5,827), 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 West Jefferson. 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 West Jefferson’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (5,167 in 2025); our figure for West Jefferson is 5,827 (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 West Jefferson
Is West Jefferson, OH safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, West Jefferson reports less crime per resident than 64% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #116 of 296 in Ohio. Its police reported 0.6 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 West Jefferson?
0.6 violent and 10.8 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 West Jefferson?
West Jefferson’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “West Jefferson”. 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 West Jefferson.
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.