Photo: Taber Andrew Bain · CC BY 2.0Pearisburg records less violent crime per head than 86% of U.S. towns
For every 1,000 residents, 0.5 violent crime and 18.4 incidents of property crime were logged a year; in the rest of Virginia, the figures are 3.3 and 22.6. Its Safety Grade, B− (#27 of 84 graded towns in Virginia), rests on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025: close to the middle of U.S. towns. Per resident, the graded crimes were down 39% 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 Pearisburg
Among Virginia towns, closer to the middle
Virginia’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Pearisburg’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 68% of the 84 Virginia towns we grade, against 46% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Pearisburg has 2,191 jobs based in town for 2,873 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. 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 Pearisburg’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Pearisburg’s grade up; property crime pulls it down.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Pearisburg property | Rest of Virginia property | Pearisburg violent | Rest of Virginia violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 22.8 | 25.2 | 0.4 | 3.5 |
| 2023 | 21.5 | 24.4 | 0.4 | 3.5 |
| 2024 | 20.3 | 23.3 | 1.1 | 3.3 |
| 2025 | 13.4 | 20.2 | 0.0 | 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Pearisburg | Rest of Virginia | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.4 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.4 | 3.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.1 | 3.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.0 | 3.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Pearisburg’s police reported 4 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.5 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 Pearisburg 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 no violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
38 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.
0 violent and 38 property, as reported to the FBI by Pearisburg’s police.
One person died in crashes on Pearisburg’s roads in 2019–2023
Pearisburg had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
That is about what is typical for Virginia towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (4.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Pearisburg’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Pearisburg’s own rate (7.0) 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.
Pearisburg and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pearisburg | B− | 0.5 | 18.4 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Virginia towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pearisburg | B− | 0.5 | 18.4 |
| Grottoes | B+ | 1.9 | 4.2 |
| Windsor | B | 1.6 | 8.7 |
| Hillsville | B | 0.8 | 12.2 |
| Wise | C+ | 1.2 | 17.0 |
| Lebanon | C− | 2.3 | 25.3 |
The five graded Virginia towns closest to Pearisburg’s population (2,873), 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 Pearisburg. 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 Pearisburg’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (2,844 in 2025); our figure for Pearisburg is 2,873 (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 Pearisburg
Is Pearisburg, VA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Pearisburg reports more crime per resident than 54% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #27 of 84 in Virginia. Its police reported 0.5 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 Pearisburg?
0.5 violent and 18.4 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.
Who polices Pearisburg?
Pearisburg’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Pearisburg”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Pearisburg.
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.