Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel · CC BY-SA 4.0Reported crime per resident in Johnston fell 31% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, Johnston grades B for safety (#31 of 36 graded towns in Rhode Island): close to the middle 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 Johnston
4 of the 5 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 5 Rhode Island towns on Johnston’s borders, 5 have a Safety Grade: Scituate (A+), Smithfield (A−), North Providence (B+), Cranston (B), Providence (C). Neighbors ↓
Among Rhode Island towns, closer to the middle
Rhode Island’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Johnston’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 14% of the 36 Rhode Island towns we grade, against 59% 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 Johnston’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; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
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 | Johnston property | Rest of Rhode Island property | Johnston violent | Rest of Rhode Island violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12.5 | 12.7 | 1.1 | 1.7 |
| 2023 | 12.5 | 10.9 | 1.1 | 1.6 |
| 2024 | 9.8 | 10.1 | 1.2 | 1.5 |
| 2025 | 8.1 | 8.9 | 1.3 | 1.4 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Johnston’s police reported 109 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.2 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 | Johnston | Rest of Rhode Island | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.1 | 1.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.1 | 1.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 8 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, 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.
286 crimes reported in 2025
39 violent and 247 property, as reported to the FBI by Johnston’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
10 people died in crashes on Johnston’s roads in 2019–2023
Johnston had 9 fatal crashes in five years, in which 10 people died. 1 died in crash on an Interstate.
That is 6.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Rhode Island towns of 25,000–100,000 people (5.6, 12 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.
Johnston and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johnston | B | 1.2 | 10.1 |
| Providence | C | 2.9 | 17.1 |
| Cranston | B | 1.0 | 10.2 |
| North Providence | B+ | 1.0 | 7.1 |
| Scituate | A+ | 0.5 | 1.5 |
| Smithfield | A− | 0.5 | 8.2 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Rhode Island towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johnston | B | 1.2 | 10.1 |
| South Kingstown | A | 0.4 | 3.9 |
| Cumberland | A | 0.5 | 4.7 |
| North Kingstown | A− | 0.6 | 6.4 |
| Coventry | B+ | 0.8 | 9.2 |
| West Warwick | B | 1.9 | 6.0 |
The five graded Rhode Island towns closest to Johnston’s population (30,494), 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 Johnston. 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 Johnston’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (30,522 in 2025); our figure for Johnston is 30,494 (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 Johnston
Is Johnston, RI safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Johnston reports less crime per resident than 59% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #31 of 36 in Rhode Island. Its police reported 1.2 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 Johnston?
1.2 violent and 10.1 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 Johnston?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Johnston in 2025?
Johnston’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 3.3 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Johnston safer than Providence?
Providence reports more crime per resident than Johnston: Providence grades C for safety and Johnston B. Providence’s police reported 2.9 violent and 17.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Johnston?
Johnston’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Johnston”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Johnston.
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.