Photo: Mojo Hand · CC BY-SA 4.0Colonial Heights reports more crime per resident than 90% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Colonial Heights’ police in 2023–2025, it grades D for safety: #70 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 Colonial Heights
Colonial Heights reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 2 Virginia towns on Colonial Heights’ borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Petersburg (D). Ettrick is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Colonial Heights’ 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; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical.
For every 1,000 residents, about 35 property crimes reported
And about 4 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
Colonial Heights’ police reported 234 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.2 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.3 in the rest of Virginia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Colonial Heights | Rest of Virginia | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.9 | 3.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.6 | 3.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.0 | 3.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Reported crime is steady
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Colonial Heights property | Rest of Virginia property | Colonial Heights violent | Rest of Virginia violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 34.2 | 25.1 | 3.0 | 3.5 |
| 2023 | 32.6 | 24.4 | 3.9 | 3.5 |
| 2024 | 31.8 | 23.2 | 4.6 | 3.3 |
| 2025 | 35.4 | 20.1 | 4.0 | 3.2 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
743 crimes reported in 2025
76 violent and 667 property, as reported to the FBI by Colonial Heights’ police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Eight people died in crashes on Colonial Heights’s roads in 2019–2023
Colonial Heights had 8 fatal crashes in five years, in which eight people died; 2 were pedestrians. Most of these deaths (4 of 8) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
That is more than 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 Colonial Heights’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Colonial Heights’s own rate (8.7) 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.
Colonial Heights and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colonial Heights | D | 4.2 | 33.3 |
| Ettrick | — | — | — |
| Petersburg | D | 8.8 | 30.6 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Ettrick is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
Virginia towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colonial Heights | D | 4.2 | 33.3 |
| Vienna | B+ | 0.9 | 8.6 |
| Manassas Park | B+ | 1.2 | 7.6 |
| Radford | B− | 2.2 | 9.6 |
| Culpeper | B− | 1.4 | 15.2 |
| Bristol | D | 4.8 | 32.2 |
The five graded Virginia towns closest to Colonial Heights’ population (18,738), 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 Colonial Heights. 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 Colonial Heights’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (18,853 in 2025); our figure for Colonial Heights is 18,738 (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 Colonial Heights
Is Colonial Heights, VA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Colonial Heights reports more crime per resident than 90% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #70 of 84 in Virginia. Its police reported 4.2 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 Colonial Heights?
4.2 violent and 33.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Virginia reports 3.3 and 22.6; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Colonial Heights?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Colonial Heights safer than Petersburg?
Petersburg reports more crime per resident than Colonial Heights: Petersburg grades D for safety and Colonial Heights D. Petersburg’s police reported 8.8 violent and 30.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Colonial Heights?
Colonial Heights’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Colonial Heights”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Colonial Heights.
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.