Photo: Reservoirhill at English Wikipedia · Public domainOn violent crime, Ponca City has a higher rate per resident than 89% of U.S. towns
The crimes the grade counts fell 41% per resident from 2023 to 2025. Graded on crimes Ponca City’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it scores D for safety: #102 of 124 graded towns in Oklahoma. Year on year, 5.2 violent crimes and 24.2 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 4.7 and 22.6 in the rest of Oklahoma.
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 stands out about safety in Ponca City
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 Ponca City’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; property crime is the closer of the two to typical.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Ponca City property | Rest of Oklahoma property | Ponca City violent | Rest of Oklahoma violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 31.3 | 26.2 | 5.7 | 4.7 |
| 2023 | 31.1 | 24.3 | 5.2 | 4.7 |
| 2024 | 25.0 | 22.7 | 5.8 | 4.8 |
| 2025 | 16.5 | 20.7 | 4.8 | 4.6 |
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 Oklahoma.
Crime in Ponca City 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 5 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 | Ponca City | Rest of Oklahoma | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.7 | 4.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 5.2 | 4.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 5.8 | 4.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.8 | 4.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Ponca City’s police reported 382 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 5.2 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.7 in the rest of Oklahoma and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
516 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.
116 violent and 400 property, as reported to the FBI by Ponca City’s police.
Three people died in crashes on Ponca City’s roads in 2019–2023
Ponca City had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which three people died; 2 were pedestrians.
That is fewer than is typical for Oklahoma towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (9.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Ponca City’s size would see about 11 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Ponca City’s own rate (2.5) 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.
Ponca City and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ponca City | D | 5.2 | 24.2 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Oklahoma towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ponca City | D | 5.2 | 24.2 |
| Mustang | B | 1.2 | 8.5 |
| Sapulpa | C+ | 2.5 | 14.4 |
| Duncan | C− | 3.5 | 21.3 |
| Durant | C− | 3.1 | 27.5 |
| Ardmore | D− | 11.3 | 29.9 |
The five graded Oklahoma towns closest to Ponca City’s population (24,225), 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 Ponca City. 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 Ponca City’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (24,200 in 2025); our figure for Ponca City is 24,225 (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 Ponca City
Is Ponca City, OK safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Ponca City reports more crime per resident than 88% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #102 of 124 in Oklahoma. Its police reported 5.2 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 Ponca City?
5.2 violent and 24.2 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 Ponca City?
Ponca City’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Ponca City”. 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 Ponca City.
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.