Photo: MarmadukePercy · CC BY-SA 3.0Rocky Mount reports more crime per resident than 89% of U.S. towns
On violence it beats 66% of U.S. towns; on property crime, only 3%. Graded on crimes Rocky Mount’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it scores D for safety: #69 of 84 graded towns in Virginia. Out of every 1,000 residents, 1.1 violent crimes and 42.0 incidents of property crime are reported annually, against 3.3 and 22.6 in the rest of Virginia. Add to that, the rate the grade counts dropped 53% 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 Rocky Mount
A job center
Rocky Mount has 7,687 jobs based in town for 4,973 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 Rocky Mount’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Rocky Mount’s grade up; property crime pulls it down.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Rocky Mount property | Rest of Virginia property | Rocky Mount violent | Rest of Virginia violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 36.7 | 25.2 | 2.0 | 3.5 |
| 2023 | 62.8 | 24.4 | 0.8 | 3.5 |
| 2024 | 34.7 | 23.2 | 1.4 | 3.3 |
| 2025 | 28.7 | 20.2 | 1.0 | 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 | Rocky Mount | Rest of Virginia | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.0 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.8 | 3.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.4 | 3.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.0 | 3.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Rocky Mount’s police reported 16 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.1 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 Rocky Mount 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.
148 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.
5 violent and 143 property, as reported to the FBI by Rocky Mount’s police.
Five people died in crashes on Rocky Mount’s roads in 2019–2023
Rocky Mount had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died.
That is more than 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 Rocky Mount’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Rocky Mount’s own rate (20.2) 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.
Rocky Mount and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rocky Mount | D | 1.1 | 42.0 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Virginia towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rocky Mount | D | 1.1 | 42.0 |
| Berryville | A | 0.2 | 5.1 |
| Big Stone Gap | B− | 1.3 | 14.1 |
| Richlands | C− | 5.1 | 13.5 |
| Bluefield | D | 1.2 | 37.4 |
| South Hill | D | 4.2 | 34.4 |
The five graded Virginia towns closest to Rocky Mount’s population (4,973), 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 Rocky Mount. 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 Rocky Mount’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (4,988 in 2025); our figure for Rocky Mount is 4,973 (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 Rocky Mount
Is Rocky Mount, VA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Rocky Mount reports more crime per resident than 89% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #69 of 84 in Virginia. Its police reported 1.1 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 Rocky Mount?
1.1 violent and 42.0 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 Rocky Mount?
Rocky Mount’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Rocky Mount”. 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 Rocky Mount.
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.