Photo: Steven Pavlov · CC BY-SA 3.0More property crime is recorded per resident in Poulsbo than in 71% of U.S. towns
Across all the graded crimes, Poulsbo lands on C+ (#52 of 130 graded towns in Washington): more crime per resident than 62% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. By contrast, for every 1,000 residents, 1.6 violent crimes and 17.1 incidents of property crime were logged a year; in the rest of Washington, the figures are 4.0 and 32.1. The graded rate fell 16% 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 Poulsbo
Among Washington towns, closer to the middle
Washington’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Poulsbo’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 60% of the 130 Washington towns we grade, against 38% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
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 Poulsbo’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Poulsbo’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (17.1) 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 | Poulsbo | Rest of Washington | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.2 | 4.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.3 | 4.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.6 | 4.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.0 | 3.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Poulsbo’s police reported 60 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.6 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.0 in the rest of Washington and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Poulsbo property | Rest of Washington property | Poulsbo violent | Rest of Washington violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 37.4 | 43.7 | 3.2 | 4.8 |
| 2023 | 18.2 | 37.6 | 2.3 | 4.5 |
| 2024 | 16.9 | 32.9 | 1.6 | 4.1 |
| 2025 | 16.2 | 25.8 | 1.0 | 3.6 |
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 Washington.
Crime in Poulsbo 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.
219 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.
13 violent and 206 property, as reported to the FBI by Poulsbo’s police.
Three people died in crashes on Poulsbo’s roads in 2019–2023
Poulsbo had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which three people died.
That is about what is typical for Washington towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (3.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Poulsbo’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Poulsbo’s own rate (4.9) 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.
Poulsbo and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poulsbo | C+ | 1.6 | 17.1 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Washington towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poulsbo | C+ | 1.6 | 17.1 |
| Enumclaw | B− | 0.7 | 15.7 |
| Newcastle | C+ | 0.8 | 21.4 |
| Cheney | C | 3.3 | 17.6 |
| Kelso | C | 2.1 | 22.9 |
| Gig Harbor | C− | 2.4 | 29.6 |
The five graded Washington towns closest to Poulsbo’s population (12,749), 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 Poulsbo. 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 Poulsbo’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (12,714 in 2025); our figure for Poulsbo is 12,749 (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 Poulsbo
Is Poulsbo, WA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Poulsbo reports more crime per resident than 62% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #52 of 130 in Washington. Its police reported 1.6 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 Poulsbo?
1.6 violent and 17.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Washington reports 4.0 and 32.1; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Poulsbo?
Poulsbo’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Poulsbo”. 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 Poulsbo.
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.