Photo: Joe Mabel · CC BY-SA 3.0For violent crime, Montesano beats 75% of U.S. towns per resident
In sum, crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025 put Montesano at B (#29 of 130 graded towns in Washington): close to the middle of U.S. towns. Police counts work out at 0.8 violent crime and 12.9 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the rest of Washington they are 4.0 and 32.0. Per resident, the graded rate barely moved from 2023 to 2025.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of WA” is every other Washington 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 Montesano
Among Washington towns, higher
Washington’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Montesano’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 78% of the 130 Washington towns we grade, against 56% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Montesano’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Montesano’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (12.9) 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 | Montesano | Rest of Washington | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.2 | 4.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.0 | 4.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.0 | 4.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.5 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Montesano’s police reported 10 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.8 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.0 in the rest of Washington and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Montesano 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 | Montesano property | Rest of Washington property | Montesano violent | Rest of Washington violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12.6 | 43.7 | 0.2 | 4.8 |
| 2023 | 11.7 | 37.6 | 1.0 | 4.5 |
| 2024 | 15.3 | 32.9 | 1.0 | 4.1 |
| 2025 | 11.7 | 25.8 | 0.5 | 3.5 |
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 Washington.
51 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.
2 violent and 49 property, as reported to the FBI by Montesano’s police.
One person died in crashes on Montesano’s roads in 2019–2023
Montesano had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
That is about what is typical for Washington towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (0.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Montesano’s size would see about 0 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Montesano’s own rate (4.8) 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.
Montesano and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montesano | B | 0.8 | 12.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Washington towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montesano | B | 0.8 | 12.9 |
| Colville | A | 0.3 | 4.7 |
| Moxee | A− | 1.4 | 3.6 |
| Granite Falls | B | 1.4 | 9.5 |
| Elma | C+ | 2.1 | 17.0 |
| Goldendale | C | 1.1 | 26.8 |
The five graded Washington towns closest to Montesano’s population (4,181), 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 Montesano. 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 Montesano’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (4,203 in 2025); our figure for Montesano is 4,181 (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 Montesano
Is Montesano, WA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Montesano reports less crime per resident than 56% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #29 of 130 in Washington. Its police reported 0.8 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.0 in the rest of Washington and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Montesano?
0.8 violent and 12.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Washington reports 4.0 and 32.0; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Montesano?
Montesano’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Montesano”. 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 Montesano.
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.