Photo: Eduardo Montes-Bradley · CC BY-SA 4.0South Boston records more violent crime per head than 86% of U.S. towns
Annual rates stand at 4.5 violent crimes and 22.2 incidents of property crime for every thousand residents, next to 3.3 and 22.6 in the rest of Virginia. Add to that, on crimes South Boston’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades C− for safety: #61 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’s behind South Boston’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.
Crime in South Boston 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 5 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 | South Boston | Rest of Virginia | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.3 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.3 | 3.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.6 | 3.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.6 | 3.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
South Boston’s police reported 106 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.5 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.3 in the rest of Virginia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | South Boston property | Rest of Virginia property | South Boston violent | Rest of Virginia violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 23.3 | 25.2 | 3.3 | 3.5 |
| 2023 | 24.5 | 24.4 | 4.3 | 3.5 |
| 2024 | 25.1 | 23.2 | 4.6 | 3.3 |
| 2025 | 16.8 | 20.2 | 4.6 | 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.
166 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.
36 violent and 130 property, as reported to the FBI by South Boston’s police.
Two people died in crashes on South Boston’s roads in 2019–2023
South Boston had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died.
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 South Boston’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so South Boston’s own rate (5.1) 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.
South Boston and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Boston | C− | 4.5 | 22.2 |
| Riverdale | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Riverdale 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Boston | C− | 4.5 | 22.2 |
| Lexington | A− | 1.0 | 5.4 |
| Bedford | C+ | 2.1 | 16.7 |
| Vinton | C | 2.0 | 19.1 |
| Ashland | C− | 4.9 | 20.4 |
| Farmville | D | 4.8 | 24.4 |
The five graded Virginia towns closest to South Boston’s population (7,795), 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 South Boston. 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 South Boston’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (7,758 in 2025); our figure for South Boston is 7,795 (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 South Boston
Is South Boston, VA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, South Boston reports more crime per resident than 84% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #61 of 84 in Virginia. Its police reported 4.5 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 South Boston?
4.5 violent and 22.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Virginia reports 3.3 and 22.6; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices South Boston?
South Boston’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “South Boston”. 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 South Boston.
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.