Photo: G. Edward Johnson · CC BY 4.0Property crime per resident is lower in Chelsea than in 68% of U.S. towns
Per resident, the graded rate barely moved from 2023 to 2025. A Safety Grade of B follows from crimes Chelsea’s police reported over the years 2023 to 2025. Its police logs show 1.7 violent crimes and 7.0 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the rest of Oklahoma the numbers are 4.7 and 22.6.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of OK” is every other Oklahoma 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’s behind Chelsea’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Chelsea’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down. Its violent rate (1.7) 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 | Chelsea | Rest of Oklahoma | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.0 | 4.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.0 | 4.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.5 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.5 | 4.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Chelsea’s police reported 10 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.7 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.7 in the rest of Oklahoma and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Chelsea 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 4 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Chelsea property | Rest of Oklahoma property | Chelsea violent | Rest of Oklahoma violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 16.1 | 26.2 | 5.0 | 4.7 |
| 2023 | 7.0 | 24.4 | 1.0 | 4.7 |
| 2024 | 9.5 | 22.7 | 0.5 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 4.5 | 20.7 | 3.5 | 4.6 |
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 Oklahoma.
16 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.
7 violent and 9 property, as reported to the FBI by Chelsea’s police.
One person died in crashes on Chelsea’s roads in 2019–2023
Chelsea had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
That is about what is typical for Oklahoma towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (6.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Chelsea’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Chelsea’s own rate (10.6) 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.
Chelsea and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | B | 1.7 | 7.0 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Oklahoma towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | B | 1.7 | 7.0 |
| Burns Flat | A− | 0.7 | 4.4 |
| Krebs | B− | 1.6 | 12.4 |
| Wynnewood | B− | 2.9 | 7.9 |
| Lexington | B− | 2.6 | 10.3 |
| Pawnee | C | 4.6 | 13.3 |
The five graded Oklahoma towns closest to Chelsea’s population (1,999), 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 Chelsea. 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 Chelsea’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (1,988 in 2025); our figure for Chelsea is 1,999 (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 Chelsea
Is Chelsea, OK safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Chelsea reports less crime per resident than 63% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade. Its police reported 1.7 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.7 in the rest of Oklahoma and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Chelsea?
1.7 violent and 7.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Oklahoma reports 4.7 and 22.6; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Chelsea?
Chelsea’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Chelsea”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Chelsea.
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.