Photo: M.O. Stevens · Public domainFor violent crime, Forest Grove trails 81% of U.S. towns per resident
Forest Grove’s overall Safety Grade is C (#39 of 74 graded towns in Oregon): more crime per resident than 69% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. The crimes the grade counts fell 23% per resident from 2023 to 2025. Each year brought 3.8 violent crimes and 12.8 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (3.8 and 30.5 in the rest of Oregon).
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of OR” is every other Oregon 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 Forest Grove
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 1 Oregon towns on Forest Grove’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Cornelius (C+). Neighbors ↓
Among Oregon towns, closer to the middle
Oregon’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Forest Grove’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 47% of the 74 Oregon towns we grade, against 31% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Forest Grove is home to Pacific University, with 3,201 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 10% 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 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 Forest Grove’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. Its property rate (12.8) 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 | Forest Grove property | Rest of Oregon property | Forest Grove violent | Rest of Oregon violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 18.6 | 36.7 | 3.4 | 4.1 |
| 2023 | 14.3 | 33.0 | 4.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 13.7 | 31.0 | 3.4 | 4.0 |
| 2025 | 10.4 | 27.6 | 3.8 | 3.7 |
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 Oregon.
Crime in Forest Grove 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Forest Grove | Rest of Oregon | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.4 | 4.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.2 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.4 | 4.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Forest Grove’s police reported 311 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.8 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.8 in the rest of Oregon and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
389 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.
105 violent and 284 property, as reported to the FBI by Forest Grove’s police.
Three people died in crashes on Forest Grove’s roads in 2019–2023
Forest Grove had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which three people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is about what is typical for Oregon towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (3.5 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Forest Grove’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Forest Grove’s own rate (2.3) 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.
Forest Grove and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Grove | C | 3.8 | 12.8 |
| Cornelius | C+ | 2.7 | 14.1 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Oregon towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Grove | C | 3.8 | 12.8 |
| West Linn | B+ | 0.5 | 9.0 |
| Milwaukie | C+ | 2.1 | 13.6 |
| Woodburn | C− | 2.6 | 24.9 |
| Tualatin | C− | 2.1 | 28.3 |
| Roseburg | D | 3.1 | 41.0 |
The five graded Oregon towns closest to Forest Grove’s population (27,252), 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 Forest Grove. 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 Forest Grove’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (27,331 in 2025); our figure for Forest Grove is 27,252 (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 Forest Grove
Is Forest Grove, OR safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Forest Grove reports more crime per resident than 69% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #39 of 74 in Oregon. Its police reported 3.8 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.8 in the rest of Oregon and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Forest Grove?
3.8 violent and 12.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Oregon reports 3.8 and 30.5; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Forest Grove in 2025?
Forest Grove’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Forest Grove safer than Cornelius?
Cornelius reports less crime per resident than Forest Grove: Cornelius grades C+ for safety and Forest Grove C. Cornelius’s police reported 2.7 violent and 14.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Forest Grove?
Forest Grove’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Forest Grove”. 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 Forest Grove.
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.