Photo: Pi.1415926535 · CC BY-SA 4.0Foster has less crime per resident than nine in ten U.S. towns
Next door, 2 of 3 towns with figures record less crime per resident. By contrast, the grade is A, built on crimes Foster’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #6 of 36 graded towns in Rhode Island. Typical years here bring 0.6 violent crime plus 2.0 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 1.5 plus 10.0 in the rest of Rhode Island.
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 Foster
2 of the 3 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 3 Rhode Island towns on Foster’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Glocester (A+), Scituate (A+), Coventry (B+). Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Foster’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 lower than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Foster | Rest of Rhode Island | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.6 | 1.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Foster’s police reported 8 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.6 per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.5 in the rest of Rhode Island and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Foster 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.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Foster property | Rest of Rhode Island property | Foster violent | Rest of Rhode Island violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.4 | 12.8 | 1.6 | 1.7 |
| 2023 | 2.2 | 11.0 | 0.9 | 1.6 |
| 2024 | 2.4 | 10.1 | 0.2 | 1.5 |
| 2025 | 1.5 | 8.9 | 0.6 | 1.4 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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 Rhode Island.
10 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.
3 violent and 7 property, as reported to the FBI by Foster’s police.
Four people died in crashes on Foster’s roads in 2019–2023
Foster had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which four people died.
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.
Foster and its neighbors
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Rhode Island towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foster | A | 0.6 | 2.0 |
| Richmond | A | 0.3 | 2.9 |
| West Greenwich | A | 0.3 | 3.9 |
| Jamestown | A | 0.5 | 3.1 |
| Little Compton | A | 0.4 | 5.1 |
| Charlestown | A− | 1.0 | 3.7 |
The five graded Rhode Island towns closest to Foster’s population (4,628), 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 Foster. 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 Foster’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (4,636 in 2025); our figure for Foster is 4,628 (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 Foster
Is Foster, RI safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Foster reports less crime per resident than 93% of U.S. towns, an A Safety Grade and #6 of 36 in Rhode Island. Its police reported 0.6 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 Foster?
0.6 violent and 2.0 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 Foster safer than Scituate?
Scituate reports less crime per resident than Foster: Scituate grades A+ for safety and Foster A. Scituate’s police reported 0.5 violent and 1.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Foster?
Foster’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Foster”. 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 Foster.
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.