Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel · CC BY-SA 3.0Central Falls reports less property crime than most U.S. towns, but more violent crime
Overall, Central Falls grades C+ for safety (#33 of 36 graded towns in Rhode Island): more crime per resident than 60% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of RI” is every other Rhode Island 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 Central Falls
2 of the 3 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 3 Rhode Island towns on Central Falls’ borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Cumberland (A), Lincoln (B), Pawtucket (C+). Neighbors ↓
Among Rhode Island towns, lower
Rhode Island’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Central Falls’ place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 8% of the 36 Rhode Island towns we grade, against 40% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
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 Central Falls’ grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Central Falls’ grade up; violent crime pulls it down. Its violent rate (3.4) 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.
Reported crime is falling
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 Rhode Island.
Show as a table
| Year | Central Falls property | Rest of Rhode Island property | Central Falls violent | Rest of Rhode Island violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 11.9 | 12.7 | 4.0 | 1.6 |
| 2023 | 9.5 | 11.0 | 4.3 | 1.5 |
| 2024 | 10.1 | 10.1 | 3.2 | 1.4 |
| 2025 | 7.8 | 8.9 | 2.7 | 1.4 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 8 property crimes reported
And about 3 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
Central Falls’ police reported 233 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.4 per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.5 in the rest of Rhode Island and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Central Falls | Rest of Rhode Island | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.0 | 1.6 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.3 | 1.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.2 | 1.4 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.7 | 1.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
244 crimes reported in 2025
63 violent and 181 property, as reported to the FBI by Central Falls’ police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
No one died in a crash on Central Falls’s roads in 2019–2023
That is fewer than is typical for Rhode Island towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (4.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Central Falls’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Central Falls’s own rate (0.0) 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.
Central Falls and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central Falls | C+ | 3.4 | 9.1 |
| Cumberland | A | 0.5 | 4.7 |
| Pawtucket | C+ | 2.8 | 14.7 |
| Lincoln | B | 0.8 | 10.4 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Rhode Island towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central Falls | C+ | 3.4 | 9.1 |
| Bristol | A+ | 0.3 | 2.4 |
| North Kingstown | A− | 0.6 | 6.4 |
| Smithfield | A− | 0.5 | 8.2 |
| Westerly | B+ | 0.6 | 8.6 |
| Newport | C+ | 1.9 | 14.5 |
The five graded Rhode Island towns closest to Central Falls’ population (23,124), by grade.
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 Central Falls. 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 Central Falls’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (23,119 in 2025); our figure for Central Falls is 23,124 (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 Central Falls
Is Central Falls, RI safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Central Falls reports more crime per resident than 60% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #33 of 36 in Rhode Island. Its police reported 3.4 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.5 in the rest of Rhode Island and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Central Falls?
3.4 violent and 9.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Rhode Island reports 1.5 and 10.0; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Central Falls?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Central Falls safer than Cumberland?
Cumberland reports less crime per resident than Central Falls: Cumberland grades A for safety and Central Falls C+. Cumberland’s police reported 0.5 violent and 4.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Central Falls?
Central Falls’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Central Falls”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Central Falls.
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.