Photo: Carol M. Highsmith · Public domainProperty crime per resident is lower in Buena Vista than in 84% of U.S. towns
In a usual year, 0.9 violent crime and 4.2 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the rest of Virginia, 3.3 and 22.7. What’s more, its Safety Grade is A−, on crimes Buena Vista’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #5 of 84 graded towns in Virginia.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of VA” is every other Virginia 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 Buena Vista
Among Virginia towns, higher
Virginia’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Buena Vista’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 94% of the 84 Virginia towns we grade, against 81% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Buena Vista is home to Southern Virginia University, with 967 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 13% 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 ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Buena Vista’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 | Buena Vista | Rest of Virginia | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.2 | 3.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.5 | 3.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Buena Vista’s police reported 18 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.3 in the rest of Virginia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Buena Vista 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 | Buena Vista property | Rest of Virginia property | Buena Vista violent | Rest of Virginia violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.6 | 25.2 | 1.5 | 3.5 |
| 2023 | 3.2 | 24.5 | 1.2 | 3.5 |
| 2024 | 3.3 | 23.3 | 0.5 | 3.3 |
| 2025 | 6.1 | 20.2 | 1.1 | 3.2 |
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 Virginia.
47 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.
7 violent and 40 property, as reported to the FBI by Buena Vista’s police.
No one died in a crash on Buena Vista’s roads in 2019–2023
That is about what is typical for Virginia towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (3.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Buena Vista’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Buena Vista’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.
Buena Vista and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buena Vista | A− | 0.9 | 4.2 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Virginia towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buena Vista | A− | 0.9 | 4.2 |
| Bridgewater | A− | 0.5 | 5.2 |
| Strasburg | B− | 2.3 | 8.9 |
| Dumfries | B− | 1.7 | 12.1 |
| Woodstock | C+ | 1.2 | 19.0 |
| Galax | D | 3.0 | 38.1 |
The five graded Virginia towns closest to Buena Vista’s population (6,672), 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 Buena Vista. 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 Buena Vista’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (6,588 in 2025); our figure for Buena Vista is 6,672 (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 Buena Vista
Is Buena Vista, VA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Buena Vista reports less crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns, an A− Safety Grade and #5 of 84 in Virginia. Its police reported 0.9 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.3 in the rest of Virginia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Buena Vista?
0.9 violent and 4.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Virginia reports 3.3 and 22.7; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Buena Vista?
Buena Vista’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Buena Vista”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Buena Vista.
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.