Photo: Dylanvt · CC BY-SA 4.0For property crime, Essex trails 66% of U.S. towns per resident
None of the 3 towns next door with figures records less crime per resident. Taking everything together, Essex scores B− (#18 of 38 graded towns in Vermont): close to the middle of U.S. towns, measured on crimes its police reported between 2023 and 2025. Annual rates stand at 1.3 violent crimes and 15.4 incidents of property crime for every thousand residents, next to 2.8 and 25.2 in the rest of Vermont.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of VT” is every other Vermont 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 Essex
Essex reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 7 Vermont towns on Essex’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Colchester (C+), Williston (D), South Burlington (D). Essex Junction, Jericho, Westford and Underhill have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Essex’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Essex’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (15.4) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Essex | Rest of Vermont | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.6 | 3.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.1 | 2.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.3 | 2.8 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Essex’s police reported 87 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.3 per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.8 in the rest of Vermont and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Essex 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.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Essex property | Rest of Vermont property | Essex violent | Rest of Vermont violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 14.5 | 27.4 | 1.6 | 3.0 |
| 2023 | 14.4 | 28.7 | 1.5 | 2.7 |
| 2024 | 17.3 | 24.3 | 1.1 | 2.8 |
| 2025 | 14.6 | 22.7 | 1.3 | 2.8 |
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 Vermont.
353 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.
28 violent and 325 property, as reported to the FBI by Essex’s police.
No one died in a crash on Essex’s roads in 2019–2023
That is about what is typical for Vermont towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (3.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Essex’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Essex’s own rate (0.0) 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.
Essex and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essex | B− | 1.3 | 15.4 |
| Williston | D | 1.4 | 44.3 |
| Essex Junction | — | — | — |
| South Burlington | D | 2.4 | 48.1 |
| Jericho | — | — | — |
| Westford | — | — | — |
| Colchester | C+ | 2.0 | 16.9 |
| Underhill | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Essex Junction, Jericho, Westford and Underhill have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Vermont towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essex | B− | 1.3 | 15.4 |
| Milton | B | 1.7 | 8.0 |
| Middlebury | B | 1.3 | 11.4 |
| Springfield | B− | 2.2 | 11.7 |
| Hartford | C+ | 2.6 | 12.6 |
| Brattleboro | D | 6.0 | 39.3 |
The five graded Vermont towns closest to Essex’s population (11,346), 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 Essex. 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 Essex’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (22,284 in 2025); our figure for Essex is 11,346 (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 Essex
Is Essex, VT safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Essex reports more crime per resident than 55% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #18 of 38 in Vermont. Its police reported 1.3 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.8 in the rest of Vermont and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Essex?
1.3 violent and 15.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Vermont reports 2.8 and 25.2; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is Essex safer than Williston?
Williston reports more crime per resident than Essex: Williston grades D for safety and Essex B−. Williston’s police reported 1.4 violent and 44.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Essex?
Essex’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Essex”. 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 Essex.
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.