Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0Recorded crime per resident in Hartford rose 59% from 2023 to 2025
That puts it at C+ for safety, judged on crimes Hartford’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #21 of 38 graded towns in Vermont. Violence and property crime split as 2.6 violent crimes and 12.6 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 2.7 and 25.0 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 Hartford
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 3 Vermont towns on Hartford’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Norwich (A+). Woodstock and Hartland have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
A job center
Hartford has 8,891 jobs based in town for 10,911 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Reported crime is rising
Crime reported per resident rose 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 Hartford’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 (2.6) 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. Its property rate (12.6) 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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Hartford property | Rest of Vermont property | Hartford violent | Rest of Vermont violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 15.0 | 26.9 | 3.5 | 2.9 |
| 2023 | 10.8 | 28.3 | 2.0 | 2.7 |
| 2024 | 9.2 | 24.3 | 3.2 | 2.7 |
| 2025 | 17.9 | 22.3 | 2.5 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident rose from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Vermont.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Hartford | Rest of Vermont | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.5 | 2.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.0 | 2.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.2 | 2.7 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.5 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Hartford’s police reported 83 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.6 per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.7 in the rest of Vermont and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Hartford 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 3 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
218 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.
27 violent and 191 property, as reported to the FBI by Hartford’s police.
Two people died in crashes on Hartford’s roads in 2019–2023
Hartford had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died. Most of these deaths (1 of 2) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
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 Hartford’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Hartford’s own rate (3.7) 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.
Hartford and its neighbors
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Woodstock and Hartland have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Vermont towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hartford | C+ | 2.6 | 12.6 |
| Milton | B | 1.7 | 8.0 |
| Middlebury | B | 1.3 | 11.4 |
| Essex | B− | 1.3 | 15.4 |
| Williston | D | 1.4 | 44.3 |
| Brattleboro | D | 6.0 | 39.3 |
The five graded Vermont towns closest to Hartford’s population (10,911), 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 Hartford. 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 Hartford’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (10,648 in 2025); our figure for Hartford is 10,911 (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 Hartford
Is Hartford, VT safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Hartford reports more crime per resident than 60% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #21 of 38 in Vermont. Its police reported 2.6 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.7 in the rest of Vermont and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Hartford?
2.6 violent and 12.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Vermont reports 2.7 and 25.0; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is Hartford safer than Norwich?
Norwich reports less crime per resident than Hartford: Norwich grades A+ for safety and Hartford C+. Norwich’s police reported 0.2 violent and 1.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Hartford?
Hartford’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Hartford”. 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 Hartford.
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.