Photo: Caleb Long · CC BY-SA 2.5In Tahlequah, the kinds of crime the grade counts rose 93% per resident from 2023 to 2025
Violent crime is lower than in 66% of U.S. towns; property crime, lower than in only 32%. Across all the graded crimes, Tahlequah lands on B− (#37 of 124 graded towns in Oklahoma): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Typical years here bring 1.1 violent crimes plus 16.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 4.7 plus 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 Tahlequah
Among Oklahoma towns, closer to the middle
Oklahoma’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Tahlequah’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 70% of the 124 Oklahoma towns we grade, against 45% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Tahlequah is home to Northeastern State University, with 3,837 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 14% 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 ↓
Reported crime is rising
Crime reported per resident rose 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 Tahlequah’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Tahlequah’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (16.4) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) 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 | Tahlequah property | Rest of Oklahoma property | Tahlequah violent | Rest of Oklahoma violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 14.6 | 26.3 | 1.6 | 4.8 |
| 2023 | 8.5 | 24.5 | 0.9 | 4.7 |
| 2024 | 23.0 | 22.7 | 1.8 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 17.7 | 20.7 | 0.5 | 4.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident rose from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Oklahoma.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Tahlequah | Rest of Oklahoma | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.6 | 4.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.9 | 4.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.8 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.5 | 4.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Tahlequah’s police reported 55 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.1 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 Tahlequah 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 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
318 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.
8 violent and 310 property, as reported to the FBI by Tahlequah’s police.
Four people died in crashes on Tahlequah’s roads in 2019–2023
Tahlequah had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which four people died; 2 were pedestrians.
That is about what 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 Tahlequah’s size would see about 8 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Tahlequah’s own rate (4.7) 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.
Tahlequah and its neighbors
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Park Hill and Grandview are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
Oklahoma towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tahlequah | B− | 1.1 | 16.4 |
| Newcastle | B+ | 0.8 | 8.8 |
| Altus | C | 2.9 | 14.3 |
| Ada | C | 3.2 | 19.1 |
| McAlester | C− | 3.1 | 22.5 |
| Chickasha | C− | 3.7 | 20.9 |
The five graded Oklahoma towns closest to Tahlequah’s population (17,508), 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 Tahlequah. 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 Tahlequah’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (17,540 in 2025); our figure for Tahlequah is 17,508 (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 Tahlequah
Is Tahlequah, OK safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Tahlequah reports more crime per resident than 55% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #37 of 124 in Oklahoma. Its police reported 1.1 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 Tahlequah?
1.1 violent and 16.4 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 Tahlequah?
Tahlequah’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Tahlequah”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Tahlequah.
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.