Carter Glass House · Photo: Richard Cheek, Photographer · Public domainOn violent crime, Lynchburg has a higher rate per resident than 78% of U.S. towns
The Safety Grade comes out at C, drawn from crimes Lynchburg’s police reported through 2023 to 2025: #52 of 84 graded towns in Virginia. Year on year, 3.5 violent crimes and 17.9 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 3.3 and 22.7 in the rest of Virginia. The crimes the grade counts fell 15% per resident from 2023 to 2025.
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 Lynchburg
Among Virginia towns, closer to the middle
Virginia’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Lynchburg’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 38% of the 84 Virginia towns we grade, against 25% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Lynchburg is home to Liberty University, with 15,799 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 22% 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 ↓
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 Lynchburg’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 higher than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (3.5) 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 per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Lynchburg property | Rest of Virginia property | Lynchburg violent | Rest of Virginia violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 24.6 | 25.2 | 3.6 | 3.5 |
| 2023 | 20.1 | 24.6 | 3.3 | 3.5 |
| 2024 | 17.4 | 23.4 | 3.6 | 3.3 |
| 2025 | 16.3 | 20.3 | 3.5 | 3.2 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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 Virginia.
Crime in Lynchburg 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 4 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Lynchburg | Rest of Virginia | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.3 | 3.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.6 | 3.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Lynchburg’s police reported 838 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.5 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.3 in the rest of Virginia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
1,601 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.
285 violent and 1,316 property, as reported to the FBI by Lynchburg’s police.
21 people died in crashes on Lynchburg’s roads in 2019–2023
Lynchburg had 20 fatal crashes in five years, in which 21 people died; 6 were pedestrians.
That is 5.3 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Virginia towns of 25,000–100,000 people (3.9, 38 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.
Lynchburg and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lynchburg | C | 3.5 | 17.9 |
| Timberlake | — | — | — |
| Madison Heights | — | — | — |
| Forest | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Timberlake, Madison Heights and Forest are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
Virginia towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lynchburg | C | 3.5 | 17.9 |
| Harrisonburg | C | 2.3 | 16.9 |
| Leesburg | C | 2.5 | 16.0 |
| Suffolk | C | 4.2 | 14.8 |
| Roanoke | D | 5.8 | 38.2 |
| Portsmouth | D− | 7.8 | 38.9 |
The five graded Virginia towns closest to Lynchburg’s population (81,347), 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 Lynchburg. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Lynchburg’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (80,846 in 2025); our figure for Lynchburg is 81,347 (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 Lynchburg
Is Lynchburg, VA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Lynchburg reports more crime per resident than 75% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #52 of 84 in Virginia. Its police reported 3.5 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 Lynchburg?
3.5 violent and 17.9 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.
How many homicides were there in Lynchburg in 2025?
Lynchburg’s police reported 8 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 9.9 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Lynchburg?
Lynchburg’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Lynchburg”. 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 Lynchburg.
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.