Photo: Clinton Steeds · CC BY 2.0Poteau reports more crime per resident than 88% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Poteau’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D for safety: #102 of 124 graded towns in 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 Poteau
2 of the 2 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 2 Oklahoma towns on Poteau’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Shady Point (A−), Wister (C+). Neighbors ↓
A college town
Poteau is home to Carl Albert State College, with 1,070 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 5% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Poteau’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.
For every 1,000 residents, about 20 property crimes reported
And about 6 violent crimes, 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Poteau’s police reported 116 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.2 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.7 in the rest of Oklahoma and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Poteau | Rest of Oklahoma | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.3 | 4.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.8 | 4.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.9 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 6.0 | 4.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
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 Oklahoma.
Show as a table
| Year | Poteau property | Rest of Oklahoma property | Poteau violent | Rest of Oklahoma violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 37.4 | 26.2 | 6.3 | 4.7 |
| 2023 | 37.3 | 24.3 | 3.8 | 4.7 |
| 2024 | 29.4 | 22.7 | 2.9 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 20.3 | 20.7 | 6.0 | 4.6 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
241 crimes reported in 2025
55 violent and 186 property, as reported to the FBI by Poteau’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
13 people died in crashes on Poteau’s roads in 2019–2023
Poteau had 12 fatal crashes in five years, in which 13 people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is 29.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Oklahoma towns of 5,000–25,000 people (9.0, 58 towns).
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.
Poteau and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poteau | D | 4.2 | 28.9 |
| Wister | C+ | 2.2 | 13.8 |
| Shady Point | A− | 0.7 | 5.3 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
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 Poteau. 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 Poteau’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (9,185 in 2025); our figure for Poteau is 9,171 (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 Poteau
Is Poteau, OK safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Poteau reports more crime per resident than 88% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #102 of 124 in Oklahoma. Its police reported 4.2 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 Poteau?
4.2 violent and 28.9 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.
Is crime going up or down in Poteau?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Poteau safer than Wister?
Wister reports less crime per resident than Poteau: Wister grades C+ for safety and Poteau D. Wister’s police reported 2.2 violent and 13.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Poteau?
Poteau’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Poteau”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Poteau.
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.